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Anna  Coope  and  her  pupil,  Loonie  Powers. 


ANNA  GOOPE 

SKY  PILOT  OF  THE 
SAN  BLAS  INDIANS 


an  Hutobiograpb? 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 

PARK  AVENUE  AND  40rH  STREET 

NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 


FOREWORD 


This  is  a  remarkable  book,  and  for  the  rea- 
son that  it  is  born  out  of  a  remarkable,  and,  in- 
deed, an  almost  unprecedented  experience. 
The  author's  life  is  spent  daily  and  hourly  in 
communion  with  the  Creator  and  Heavenly 
Father.  God  is  always  near,  always  reveal- 
ing His  love,  and  manifesting  His  protection 
and  deliverance.  The  book  is  especially 
timely  in  these  days  when  God  is  held  by  so 
many  to  act  only  through  the  established  laws 
that  control  the  physical  universe.  It  is  in- 
spiring and  uplifting  to  be  in  the  atmosphere 
even  for  a  short  time  of  a  faith  that  believes 
in  God  every  moment,  and  trusts  Him  for  all 
things,  realizing  that  He  is  present  in  the 
smallest  details  of  our  daily  life.  The  book 
is  published  under  the  strong  conviction  that 
it  will  strengthen  the  faith  of  all  who  read  it, 
and  bring  the  believer  into  closer  touch  with 
the  Eternal  Father  and  Omnipotent  Saviour. 

JuDsoN  Swift. 

tii 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  Girlhood  Days  in  England    ....       i 

II     New  Life  in  a  New  Land 20 

III  To  THE  West  Indies  and  Home  Again     .     30 

IV  Up  the  Orinoco  to  San  Isidro     ...     43 
V  Work  Ended  in  Venezuela    .     ,     .     .     67 

VI  My  Adventures  in  a  Launch     ...     79 

VII    Back  to  Colon 89 

VIII    At  Rio  Diablo 104 

IX    Hindrances  and  Progress 120 

X    Some  of  My  Boys 132 

XI  **  The  Chief  Man  OF  THE  Island  "  .     .149 

XII  Some  Customs  of  the  San  Blas  Indians  165 

XIII    GoD*s  Leadings 176 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Anna  Coope  and  her  pupil,  Loimie  Powers  .  Frontispiece 


FACING 
PAGE 


The  first  school  was  a  native  house  with  palm-leaf 

roof  and  bamboo  walls 22 

"I  feel  very  big  towering  over  some  of  the  women, 

who  stand  under  my  arm" 22 

San  Bias  women  in  native  dress.  The  crowning 
feature  of  the  costumes  are  the  heavy  strings 
of  beads  of  all  colors  on  the  neck,  arms  and 
legs,  and  nose  rings 44 

Miss  Coope's  "up-stairs  tenement'*  at  Rio  Diablo. 

Native  grass  houses  on  the  left 60 

A  nearer  view  of  the  author's  home.  The  first  floor 
is  the  schoolhouse  and  mission.  Chief  Robin- 
son has  on  a  black  derby  hat 60 

Map  showing  location  of  San  Bias  Islands  and  coun- 
try round  about 80 

Chief  Robinson's  House.  Open  door  leads  to  store. 
The  American  as  well  as  the  Panama  flag  forms 
part  of  the  decorations 100 

The  *'San  Bias" — the  Panama  government  steamer 

which  plys  up  and  down  the  north  coast  .      .100 

Boys  from  the  schooL    Andrew  Ferguson  is  third 

from  the  left 134 

vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACE 


Beads  for  the  legs.     Dame  Fashion  is  as  tyrannical  in 

San  Bias  as  in  other  parts  of  the  world  .      .      .134 

The  main  street  on  the  island  of  Rio  Diablo.  Na- 
tive woman  carrying  her  husband's  canoe. 
Cross  indicates  the  last  rum  shop,  now  closed  .    154 

A  Panamanian  policeman  with  some  native  boys  and 
girls.  The  steps  to  the  new  government  public 
school  are  in  the  background 154 


vm 


ANNA  COOPE 


ANNA  COOPE, 

SKY  PILOT  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS 
INDIANS 


CHAPTER  I 

GIRLHOOD  DAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

I  HAVE  often  been  asked  to  write  the  story 
of  my  life,  showing  how  God  has  led  me 
and  provided  for  every  need  as  I  walked  by 
faith  in  his  promises.  What  God  has  done 
for  me  He  can  do  for  others,  and  if  the  read- 
ing of  these  chapters  will  help  some  one  to 
step  out  by  simple  faith  on  His  promises,  every 
one  of  which  is  Yea  and  Amen  in  Christ  Je- 
sus, I  shall  be  glad  that  I  have  tried  to  tell 
the  story  in  my  simple  way. 

In  Bolton,  Lancashire,  England,  a  large 
manufacturing  town  of  about  two  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  on  Tuesday,  May  31st, 
1864,  I  first  saw  the  light  of  day.     I  was  not 


2        ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

very  warmly  welcomed  because  I  was  a  girl, 
poor  me!  Although  I  was  the  express  image 
of  my  father,  he  was  not  particularly  fond  of 
me,  so  I  became  mother's  girl.  For  some  time 
she  cherished  a  grudge  against  me  because  I 
had  blue  eyes  and  flaxen  hair  like  my  father, 
but  after  a  while,  mother-like,  she  became 
reconciled  to  my  defects  and  loved  me  in  spite 
of  them. 

I  was  the  first-born,  which  has  been  a  com- 
fort to  me,  for  God  has  said:  "The  first-born 
are  mine."  The  second  child  came  two  years 
later  and  was  a  boy.  Mother  and  father  were 
very  happy,  but  the  baby  did  not  stay  long, 
only  three  months,  and  from  that  time  I  was 
the  only  child. 

When  I  was  vaccinated  I  became  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  for  something  was  wrong 
with  the  vaccine  and  my  arm  became  so  bad 
that  the  doctor  said  it  would  have  to  be  ampu- 
tated; but  mother  said  she  would  not  bring 
up  a  one-armed  child,  and  he  must  either 
kill  me  or  cure  me  with  two  arms.  To  be 
a  girl  was  bad  enough,  but  to  be  a  one-armed 
girl  was  unendurable! 

Finally  the  arm  healed,   and  then  there 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  3 

came  a  growth  in  my  nose  which  no  one 
seemed  to  be  able  to  name.  One  doctor  said 
it  was  a  polypus,  another  contradicted  this; 
but  whatever  it  was  it  gave  me  pain.  My 
mother  went  to  one  doctor  after  another,  some 
saying  that  I  was  too  young  to  be  operated 
on.  At  last  she  became  desperate  and  said, 
"Operate  at  once,  whatever  the  result,  and  let 
us  know  the  worst;  she  cannot  go  on  suffer- 
ing in  this  way."  The  operation  was  per- 
formed and  I  lived,  but  with  a  pug  nose  that 
was  to  be  all  my  life  my  thorn  in  the  flesh. 
I  did  not  mind  being  a  girl,  but  to  be  called 
"Pug-nose"  by  thoughtless  children  in  school, 
was  hard  to  bear. 

I  can  see  that  God  allowed  this  trouble  for 
a  purpose.  Because  of  it  I  kept  aloof  from 
other  children,  and  as  I  was  an  only  child  I 
stayed  much  in  the  house  and  learned  all  that  a 
girl  ought  to  about  housekeeping,  was  the  com- 
panion of  my  mother  and  grandmother,  and 
began  to  read  at  an  early  age.  I  was  very 
fond  of  reading  out  loud  and  my  parents  en- 
couraged it,  so  I  was  getting  my  first  lessons  in 
a  life  of  service  for  others. 

I  mention  my  "thorn  in  the  flesh"  because 


4        ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

I  know  that  many  are  unhappy  because  they 
are  not  beautiful  in  face.  But  God  has  said 
in  Isaiah :  ^^How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  him 
that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth 
peace."  So  I  am  glad  that  I  have  "beautiful 
feet,"  and  that  G6S.  chose  me  to  carry  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation  to  many  of  His  neglected 
ones.  "Man  looketh  upon  the  outward  ap- 
pearance, but  God  looketh  on  the  heart."  If 
I  had  not  had  the  "thorn"  given  me,  I  would 
have  looked  like  other  girls  and  quite  prob- 
ably would  have  married,  so  my  whole  life 
would  have  been  different.  I  believe  God 
allowed  that  disfigurement  to  come  into  my 
life  to  keep  me  for  a  particular  work,  there- 
fore that  operation  was  the  first  lesson  in  my 
missionary  training. 

My  parents  were  hard-working  people; 
neither  one  had  had  much  schooling.  My 
father  went  to  work  when  he  was  seven  years 
old  and  was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  mule- 
spinning  trade.  My  mother  also  began  work- 
ing at  an  early  age.  Both  of  them  were 
members  of  large  families,  and  they  had  to 
assist  in  filling  the  family  purse.  My  father 
was  very  fond  of  reading  and  was  ambitious 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  5 

to  have  me  learn,  so  he  put  me  in  a  girls'  pri- 
vate school  v^hen  I  was  five  years  old  and  I 
stayed  there  until  I  was  nine.  I  was  always 
very  fond  of  telling  others  what  I  had  learned 
myself,  so  I  began  in  those  early  days  to  teach 
my  mother  when  I  came  from  school,  and  I 
was  sure  that  she  and  my  grandmother  were 
wonderfully  edified!  My  father  encouraged 
me  to  read  and  bought  me  books  as  rewards 
for  good  reading.  He  guarded  me  against 
what  he  termed  ^^boshy  fairy  tales,"  and  later 
on  against  novels,  examining  every  book  that 
I  brought  into  the  house,  even  from  the  Sun- 
day-school library.  He  threatened  what  he 
would  do  if  he  ever  found  me  reading  love 
stories. 

When  I  was  nine  my  father  took  me  from 
the  private  school,  saying  that  I  knew  more 
than  he  did  at  my  age  and  that  I  must  now 
go  to  work.  The  law  then  would  not  allow 
a  child  to  work  all  day  long  in  any  factory 
until  it  had  passed  the  fourth  standard,  so  I 
was  put  in  school  for  half  a  day  and  the  other 
half  I  had  to  work  in  a  hot  cotton  factory. 
Here  was  another  preparatory  lesson  in  the 
school  for  missionary  training;  I  was  learn- 


6        ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

ing  how  to  live  in  a  tropical  climate.  I  was 
not  allowed  to  speak  to  the  boys  or  men  who 
worked  for  my  father  or  near  him.  When 
passing  them  and  wanting  to  speak,  I  seemed 
to  feel  the  keen  blue  eyes  of  my  father  pierc- 
ing even  my  back.  He  punished  me  once 
when  he  thought  I  had  talked  with  a  boy  who 
worked  near  by,  and  the  only  sympathy  that 
I  got  from  mother  was,  "You  must  obey  your 
father."  I  did  after  that,  you  may  be  sure; 
for  years  I  would  not  look  at  or  talk  to  a  boy. 
Although  my  father  was  not  a  professing 
Christian,  and  never  took  me  to  the  house  of 
God  nor  read  the  Bible  in  his  home,  and  was 
bitter  against  me  when  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
I  accepted  Jesus  as  my  Saviour,  he  had  had 
the  training  of  a  godly  mother  who  had 
prayed  much  for  her  nine  children.  She  was 
what  they  called  a  Strict  Baptist,  and  my  fa- 
ther had  been  a  good  Sunday-school  boy,  so 
my  aunt  told  me,  but  like  many  boys  had 
stopped  attending  when  he  thought  he  was 
getting  to  be  a  man.  My  mother  was  partly 
brought  up  a  Roman  Catholic.  Her  mother 
was  of  French  descent,  but  marrying  an  Epis- 
copalian, their  house  was  divided  and  only 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  7 

one  of  their  eight  children  clung  to  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  the  others  going  to  the  Church 
of  England.  So  my  mother  never  taught  me 
the  religion  of  her  childhood,  but  her  oldest 
sister,  the  one  Catholic  in  the  family,  tried  her 
best  to  make  me  a  convert  of  Rome,  and 
would  have  succeeded  if  my  father  had  not 
kept  such  a  strict  watch  over  me.  He  finally 
forbade  her  coming  to  the  house.  Here  again 
is  an  evidence  of  God's  overruling  hand,  for  I 
was  very  receptive  to  religious  influences  and 
was  just  at  the  age  to  be  easily  moulded. 

When  I  left  the  private  school  my  first 
Bible  was  given  to  me,  and  I  well  remember 
my  cousin  saying  to  me  that  I  must  put  it 
away  and  keep  it  clean,  as  he  did.  He  was 
ten  years  older  than  I  and  his  Bible  was  as 
clean  as  when  he  received  it.  He  never  read 
it;  oh,  no,  the  Bible  was  to  have  and  to  hold 
occasionally,  and  to  keep  nice.  I  don't  re- 
member reading  it  in  the  private  school,  but 
in  the  new  Episcopal  parochial  school  to 
which  I  went,  we  often  read  the  Bible ;  and  one 
of  the  teachers  asked  me  to  come  to  the  Sun- 
day-school and  be  in  her  class.  My  father 
reluctantly  consented,  saying  that  he  didn't  be- 


8       ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

lieve  much  in  religion;  it  made  folks  crazy. 
I  was  allowed  to  go  occasionally  and  was  very 
glad  indeed,  but  not  until  I  was  eleven  years 
old  did  I  go  regularly.  I  remember  going 
with  a  neighbor's  child,  a  girl  of  my  own  age, 
when  about  seven  or  eight  years  old ;  and  there 
I  heard  a  lady  tell  of  the  children  in  India 
who  had  no  Sunday-school,  who  did  not  know 
how  to  sing  these  beautiful  hymns  and  who 
knew  nothing  about  Jesus  who  loved  little 
children.  I  said,  "Why  doesn't  somebody  go 
and  tell  them?  I  would  go  if  I  were  big,  and 
when  I  get  big  I  will  go!"  That  settled  it! 
I  was  marked  for  a  missionary  to  Indians 
somewhere  from  that  day;  that  was  my  star, 
my  goal,  henceforth. 

But  now  a  new  experience  came  into  my 
life.  One  day  while  playing  on  the  outer  cir- 
cle of  an  open-air  Methodist  meeting,  I  heard 
a  boy  of  about  fourteen  say  that  he  knew  his 
sins  were  forgiven  and  he  was  very  happy.  I 
had  never  heard  any  one  talk  like  that  before. 
My  mother's  mother  had  told  of  Jesus  dying 
on  the  cross  for  sinners,  but  sinners  were  old 
folks,  not  a  boy  like  that  or  a  girl  like  me! 
Yes,  grandmother  did  tell  me  that  I  "had  a 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  9 

temper,"  but  she  never  said  that  I  was  a  sin- 
ner. This  boy  said  that  he  was  "a  sinner," 
but  that  Jesus  had  forgiven  all  his  sins  and 
that  he  was  happy  because  he  knew  it. 

Now  if  I  had  dared  to  speak  to  that  boy  I 
would  have  questioned  him  pretty  closely,  but 
I  did  not  dare,  so  I  had  to  puzzle  over  the 
matter  without  getting  much  satisfaction. 
God  had  used  that  boy  to  fix  my  attention  on 
spiritual  things.  I  wanted  to  know  how  he 
knew  that  he  was  forgiven.  I  had  been  go- 
ing to  the  Sunday-school  and  the  church  and 
was  learning  new  things  both  from  the  Bible 
and  the  Catechism,  but  this  was  the  newest. 
The  Catechism  said  that  I  was  "a  member  of 
Christ,  a  child  of  God,"  but  I  knew  that  in  my 
heart  I  did  not  feel  this  to  be  true,  and  there 
came  over  me  a  great  longing  to  be  saved  and 
to  know  it. 

I  tried  to  get  to  a  cottage  prayer-meeting 
held  not  far  from  my  home,  but  it  was  held 
at  night  and  I  was  not  allowed  to  go  out  after 
dark,  so  there  was  no  help  in  that  direction. 
I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  read  my 
Bible  more  than  ever  and  pray,  and  that  was 
really  the  beginning  of  my  searching  to  find 


lo      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

out  God.  How  I  groped  in  the  dark!  I  felt 
better  when  I  prayed  much,  but  I  was  not  sat- 
isfied. I  asked  God  to  tell  me  that  my  sins 
were  forgiven  and  I  would  tell  it  to  every- 
body. I  thought  I  must  be  confirmed,  but  my 
father  vetoed  that.  Then  I  planned  to  go  to 
a  Methodist  Sunday-school,  and  my  mother 
forbade  that;  she  didn't  like  "too  much  reli- 
gion" any  more  than  my  father. 

I  grew  desperate.  Here  I  was  seeking  to 
get  what  I  was  sure  was  the  best  thing  in  the 
world,  and  those  who  ought  to  be  helping  me 
were  keeping  me  back  for  fear  I'd  go  crazy. 
Crazy?  I  felt  as  though  I  really  should  go 
crazy  if  I  didn't  get  religion,  and  the  kind 
that  boy  talked  about,  that  made  him  glad.  I 
knew  that  I  was  not  glad,  and  I  knew  that 
my  parents  were  not  either;  so  I  went  on 
struggling,  endeavoring  to  be  a  Christian.  It 
was  all  endeavor;  there  was  no  Christian  in 
it. 

So  I  went  on  struggling.  But  the  Lord 
has  wonderful  ways  of  helping  those  who  are 
seeking  him,  and  he  opened  a  way  for  me  in 
the  dark.    Just  at  this  time  my  father  sub- 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  ii 

scribed  for  a  monthly  paper,  The  Life  and 
Explorations  of  David  Livingstone.  He 
read  it  because  he  was  interested  in  the  ex- 
ploration scheme,  but  I  read  it  because  David 
Livingstone  preached  Jesus  to  the  poor  Afri- 
cans. What  did  I  care  where  the  source  of 
the  Nile  was?  I  wanted  to  find  the  source 
of  salvation!  Livingstone  became  my  hero, 
and  I  looked  forward  eagerly  to  the  coming 
of  those  papers.  I  determined  that  I  would 
be  a  missionary  after  I  had  found  out  how 
I  myself  could  be  saved.  The  source  of  life 
eternal  was  my  quest  and  as  a  guide-book  I 
read  my  Bible  constantly. 

In  talking  to  one  of  my  friends  who  had 
been  confirmed  I  asked  her  if  she  knew  she 
was  a  Christian.  She  said,  **I  think  so."  I 
was  dreadfully  disappointed,  because  she  did 
look  so  sweet  in  her  white  dress  and  confirma- 
tion cap  that  I  thought  somehow  she  must 
have  been  changed,  but  when  she  said,  "I 
think  so,"  I  exclaimed,  "Oh,  dear  me,  I  want 
to  know!  That  boy  said  he  knew;  why  don't 
you?"  She  said  that  was  not  to  be  known. 
"The  minister  didn't  teach  us  that  in  the  con- 


12      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

firmation  class.  He  said  to  be  good  and  to 
try  every  day  to  do  right,  and  that  Jesus  would 
help  us." 

I  resolved  then  and  there  that  I  would  never 
be  confirmed  until  I  had  a  different  feeling 
than  this,  until  I  knew  surely  that  I  was  saved. 

I  was  about  sixteen  now,  and  a  new  battle 
was  being  fought  out  in  my  heart.  At  times 
I  wanted  to  go  to  dances;  my  feet  fairly 
tingled  to  dance  music.  I  grew  desperate 
and  said  that  I  wouldn't  try  any  longer  to  be 
a  Christian;  I  would  be  like  my  father,  who 
made  no  profession  and  who  never  went  to 
church.  I  knew  professing  Christians  who 
danced,  but  I  felt  in  my  own  heart  that  if  I 
ever  became  a  Christian  I  would  not  want  to 
dance,  and  the  reason  why  I  wanted  to  now 
was  because  I  was  a  sinner,  "a  miserable  sin- 
ner," as  the  Prayer  Book  said ;  we  chanted  it 
every  Sunday  in  the  Litany,  and  I  knew  that 
it  was  true  of  myself.  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  I'd  not  struggle  much  longer.  If  I 
didn't  come  to  know  soon  that  I  was  saved  it 
was  no  use  pretending;  I'd  give  up  trying  and 
go  to  the  dance  and  the  theater  and  have  a 
grand  good  time!    Why  not?    If  it  had  not 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  13 

been  for  fear  of  my  father  I  would  have  done 
these  things ;  and  I  resolved  that  when  I  was 
of  age  I  would  do  them,  if  I  was  not  a  Chris- 
tian before  that  time.  So  I  went  on  strug- 
gling and  trying  and  finding  no  real  peace. 

In  the  Lenten  season  of  1882  a  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England  came  to  our  town  to 
hold  what  is  called  a  Mission  for  forty  days. 
He  spoke  in  the  Sunday-school,  and  his 
words,  his  manner,  his  spirit  were  so  differ- 
ent from  anything  that  I  had  come  in  contact 
with  before  that  I  made  up  my  mind  that  he 
was  a  Christian,  and  I  wanted  to  hear  him 
preach.  I  could  get  hold  of  what  he  said,  or 
something  got  hold  of  me,  and  I  trembled. 
The  Sunday  night  that  I  heard  him  first  he 
preached  about  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
and  it  was  so  vivid  that  I  expected  Jesus  to 
come  before  he  got  through  preaching;  and 
to  cap  it  all  he  asked  this  pointed  question: 
"Is  every  one  in  this  church  ready  to  meet 
Jesus  and  go  with  him  if  he  comes  now?" 
Oh,  it  was  like  a  thunderbolt  in  my  soul !  I 
trembled,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could 
hear  my  soul  cry  out  in  agony:  "No,  I  am  not 
ready  1" 

/ 


14      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

At  the  close  of  his  sermon  the  preacher 
asked  all  who  wanted  to  talk  with  him  to  go 
into  the  vestry,  and  the  choir  sang,  "Yet  There 
Is  Room."  I  sat  fixed  in  my  seat.  I  wanted 
to  go  and  yet  I  could  not  seem  to  take  the  first 
step.  Alternate  waves  of  chill  and  of  fever 
swept  over  me,  and  I  cried  and  trembled. 
One  of  my  friends  said,  ^'Annie,  what  are  you 
crying  for?  You  are  a  good  girl.  If  I  were 
like  you  I'd  not  cry." 

"Oh,  Emma,"  I  cried,  "don't  talk  like  that! 
I'm  not  good;  I'm  a  miserable  sinner,  and  I 
know  it!" 

She  said,  "I  will  go  with  you  into  the  ves- 
try," but  I  preferred  to  go  alone;  I  did  not 
want  such  a  poor  helper. 

I  did  manage  somehow  to  get  into  that  ves- 
try and  the  room  was  full.  I  took  a  seat  at 
the  door,  and  my  agony  was  so  great  that  I 
sobbed  aloud.  The  preacher's  wife  came  to 
me  and  wanted  to  know  why  I  cried..  I  said, 
"I'm  not  ready  if  Jesus  comes  to-night!" 
She  talked  to  me  kindly  about  being  good  and 
believing  on  Jesus.  "Oh,"  I  exclaimed,  "I 
have  tried  to  be  good,  but  trying  does  not 
make  me  a  Christian.     I  want  to  know  that 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  15 

I  am  one."  The  good  woman  could  not  en- 
lighten me  much,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "I  see 
that  it  is  only  God  who  can  help  me;  I  shall 
have  to  talk  to  him."  I  got  up  from  my  knees 
with  the  grim  determination  that  I  would  be 
a  Christian  and  the  "know  so"  kind;  there  is 
no  other  kind  but  the  "know-so's." 

I  went  home  and  to  my  room  and  shut  the 
door  and  cried  and  prayed,  and  became  so  ex- 
hausted that  I  fell  asleep  only  to  wake  up  the 
next  morning  in  agony.  But  I  prayed  again 
and  cried,  and  my  grandmother  asked  me  if  I 
were  sick.  Yes,  I  was,  but  a  dose  of  her 
wormwood  did  not  cure  that  sickness. 

Finally  on  Wednesday,  March  29,  1882,  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  really 
saved.  It  was  while  on  my  knees  praying  in 
the  kitchen  before  a  low  rocking-chair — down 
low  in  every  sense  of  the  word — that  the  light 
broke  on  my  soul  and  I  felt  my  burden  of  sin 
roll  off.  I  had  never  read  Bunyan's  "Pil- 
grim's Progress,"  but  I  had  the  same  experi- 
ence that  Pilgrim  had  of  the  burden  rolling 
away.  I  rose  to  my  feet  like  one  on  air,  with 
these  words  ringing  like  bells  in  my  soul: 
"Certainly  I  will  be  with  thee,"  and  oh,  I 


i6      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

was  happy  I  I  danced  for  joy,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  was  on  my  way  down  the  street  to  the 
home  of  my  Sunday-school  teacher  to  tell  her 
the  good  news.  She  said  she  was  glad;  that 
she  had  prayed  for  me,  because  she  wanted 
all  her  girls  to  be  confirmed  1  Confirmed? 
That  might  be  another  step,  but  it  was  enough 
for  me  now  that  I  knew  that  I  was  Christ's 
and  he  was  mine.  I  replied,  "Oh,  I  don't 
think  my  father  will  let  me  be  confirmed,  but 
I  know  that  I  am  a  Christian  now,  and  I  am 
happy." 

I  almost  walked  on  air  after  that  testimony; 
and  I  was  eager  to  have  an  opportunity  of  tell- 
ing my  friend  who  sat  beside  me  Sunday 
night.  I  met  her  on  the  street,  and  grasping 
her  arm  cried:  "Oh,  Emma,  I  know  I  am  a 
Christian  now!" 

"How  do  you  know?"  she  asked;  "I  do 
not,  and  I  have  been  confirmed  and  you  have 
not." 

True,  I  had  not  been  confirmed ;  but  I  had 
been  so  convicted  of  sin  that,  like  David,  my 
bones  waxed  old  through  my  groaning.  Now 
God  had  spoken — "Certainly  I  will  be  with 
thee" — and  I  knew  the  voice ;  it  was  not  that 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  17 

of  a  human  being;  and  my  whole  soul  was 
flooded  with  light;  I  had  the  joy  of  assurance. 
Blessed  assurance!  My  mouth  was  opened 
that  I  might  tell  it  out  to  others.  It  was  no 
more  "hope  so,"  "think  so,"  but  "I  know"! 

My  friend  said :  "Don't  go  crazy  telling  that 
story!" 

"Oh,  no,  I  won't  be  crazy,"  I  replied;  "but 
ril  tell  it  to  everybody!" 

That  afternoon  I  told  my  grandmother, 
who  had  been  visiting  a  friend.  She  said: 
"Well,  Fm  very  glad  to  hear  it  Now  if  you 
are  a  Christian,  when  I  ask  you  to  leave  your 
books  and  wash  dishes  you'll  do  it  without 
stamping  your  feet  and  banging  the  doors." 

You  see  grandmother  had  not  much  confi- 
dence in  my  "Christian  endeavor"  life  and 
wanted  to  see  the  real  thing.  But  her  remarks 
did  not  cool  me  off;  I  was  a  Christian  and  I 
knew  it. 

When  my  father  came  home — ah,  here  was 
the  test  of  my  courage!  But  I  had  something 
to  tell  and  I  went  at  it  straight  as  a  die.  He. 
growled,  than  said  in  an  indirect  way,  not 
speaking  to  any  one  in  particular:  "H'm,  it's  a 
whim  she  has ;  it  will  soon  pass  off."    Well, 


i8      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

thirty- four  years  have  gone  by  and  the  "whim'' 
is  still  on.  He  did  not  understand,  neither 
did  mother,  who  simply  said:  "I  hope  so,'' 
when  I  told  her. 

But  none  of  these  things  moved  me.  I  was 
living  in  a  new  world ;  I  was  born  again.  I 
was  "a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,"  a  child 
of  God  and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  I  never  again  repeated  that  part  of 
the  Litany  which  says  that  we  are  "miserable 
sinners,"  for  I  did  not  feel  that  I  was.  I  knew 
that  I  was  a  forgiven  sinner,  and  it  made  me 
very  happy.  My  girl  friends  called  me 
"saint"  and  "too  religious,"  because  I  refused 
to  go  with  them  on  their  Sunday  afternoon 
strolls  but  would  go  with  my  Sunday-school 
teacher  to  visit  the  sick.  I  gave  as  my  reason 
that  I  wanted  to  be  a  missionary,  so  I  must  be- 
gin to  take  my  training. 

A  candidates'  class  for  confirmation  had 
been  formed  during  Lent,  and  I  had  twice 
asked  my  father  to  let  me  join  it,  only  to  be 
refused.  But  about  two  weeks  before  its  close 
I  asked  once  more,  to  receive  the  answer: 
"Well,  your  grandmother  says  that  you  are 


GIRLHOOD  DAYS  19 

better.  If  you  keep  on  like  that  you  may  do 
as  you  please."  So  I  joyfully  made  prepara- 
tion to  be  confirmed  on  May  i8th,  just  thirteen 
days  before  my  eighteenth  birthday. 


CHAPTER  II 

NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND 

TWO  years  after  my  conversion  we  left 
England  for  the  United  States,  landing 
in  New  York,  then  going  on  to  Providence, 
Rhode  Island.  My  rector  had  given  me  a  let- 
ter to  present  to  any  Episcopal  clergyman 
where  I  might  settle. 

We  lived  only  two  months  in  Providence; 
then  father  and  I  got  work  in  the  Turkey  Red 
Dye  Works  at  Belief ont,  near  Auburn,  Rhode 
Island.  In  this  establishment  I  learned  to 
weave  damask  tablecloths ;  and  at  every  oppor- 
tunity I  bore  testimony  to  Jesus  who  had 
saved  me  and  day  by  day  kept  me.  We  lived 
in  old  Elmville  until  the  Roger  Williams 
Park  Association  took  the  land,  the  Wextend 
Park  grounds,  etc.,  when  we  purchased  a  lot 
and  built  a  cottage  in  Edgewood  and  made 
that  our  permanent  home. 

I  found  that  there  were  two  churches  in 

20 


NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND      21 

Auburn,  which  was  very  thinly  populated  at 
that  time — one  Baptist  and  the  other  Adven- 
tist  of  the  American  Pre-millennial  Associa- 
tion. A  young  woman  who  worked  near  me 
in  the  factory  offered  to  take  me  to  Sunday- 
school,  which  she  said  she  attended  when  she 
had  something  new  to  wear.  So  I  went  to  the 
Baptist  church  in  the  morning  and  the  Sun- 
day-school in  the  afternoon,  but  was  so  dis- 
appointed that  I  cried  when  I  went  home.  I 
told  my  mother  that  the  preacher  was  uninter- 
esting and  nothing  that  he  said  touched  the 
heart.  I  had  expected  something  different 
from  the  church  to  which  my  grandmother 
belonged,  but  this  church  was  probably  an  ex- 
ception. The  Sunday-school  was  no  better; 
the  girls  seemed  giddy,  and  the  teacher  was  not 
able  to  hold  their  attention.  There  was  more 
display  of  jewelry  than  I  had  seen  among  the 
wealthiest  ladies  of  the  church  at  home  in 
England,  and  I  was  actually  homesick  for  my 
old  church. 

This  went  on  for  several  Sundays  when  a 
neighbor,  talking  with  my  mother  at  the  well, 
invited  mother  to  go  with  her  to  her  church 
the  following  Sunday  evening.     She  thanked 


22      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

the  one  who  invited  her,  but  said  that  she  did 
not  care  to  go  to  church;  that  her  daughter 
might,  however.  I  had  heard  this  other  one 
called  "the  little  church,"  and  I  looked  for- 
ward with  hope  that  it  might  be  simple  and 
quiet  and  meet  my  need.  It  did.  As  I  en- 
tered the  door  I  felt  at  home.  The  bell- 
ringer  was  also  deacon,  janitor,  Sunday-school 
superintendent  and  Bible  class  teacher.  He 
shook  my  hand  so  that  I  remembered  it;  there 
was  no  doubt  of  my  welcome.  The  one- room 
building  was  so  simple  in  its  arrangement  and 
color-tone  that  I  was  rested  at  once.  When 
the  other  members  of  the  congregation  came 
in,  my  escort  and  I  were  introduced  and  made 
to  feel  welcome.  I  felt  that  I  had  found  my 
church  home,  and  it  proved  to  be  that  for  thir- 
teen years. 

The  preacher,  the  Rev.  F.  O.  Cunningham, 
who  is  still  alive  and  preaching  in  the  New 
England  States,  was  a  fine  singer  and  the 
whole  assembly  sang  heartily.  The  hymns 
were  new  to  me,  so  I  listened.  I  remember 
one  in  particular:  "IVe  reached  the  land  of 
corn  and  wine."  Ah,  yes,  that  was  just  what 
I  had  reached,  and  I  was  going  to  stay  if 


■-chool   was  a  native    house    uith   p.ilui-lcaf  hhA 
and  bambco  walls. 


'I  feel  very  big  toweling  over  some  of  the  women,   who 
stand  under  my  arm." 


NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND      23 

they  would  let  me,  but  I  wondered  how  I  was 
to  join  such  a  church,  which  in  England 
would  be  called  a  Dissenting  church. 

The  singing  and  the  prayer  uplifted  me; 
but  the  sermon  was  wonderful.  It  was  on  the 
second  coming  of  Christ,  which  was  presented 
in  such  a  way  that  I  sat  spellbound.  I  had 
never  heard  a  sermon  like  that  in  all  my 
twenty  years.  The  preacher  who  spoke  the 
night  that  I  was  converted  had  talked  of  the 
Lord's  coming  in  judgment,  and  I  was  terri- 
fied because  I  was  not  ready  to  meet  Him. 
But  this  was  a  different  phase  of  His  coming. 
I  did  not  lose  a  word,  and  I  turned  to  the  ref- 
erences in  my  Bible  so  that  I  could  read  them 
again.  Tears  rolled  down  my  face.  I  was 
fed;  I  was  happy;  my  hungry  heart  was  satis- 
fied. 

When  the  service  was  over  the  preacher 
came  to  me  and  said:  "A  stranger,  but  you 
are  welcome."  I  said :  **Oh,  can  I  come  here 
always?"  Of  course  I  could  I  That  night  I 
literally  skipped  down  that  lane,  and  my 
friend  laughed  to  see  me  so  happy.  I  kept 
saying:  *7^sus  is  coming  back,  and  I  must  be 
ready  for  Him.     But  do  you  have  such  Bible 


24      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

readings  as  that  always?  It  was  almost  all 
Bible  1"  Even  my  mother  was  pleased  to  find 
I  was  satisfied  and  happy. 

I  united  with  that  church  by  baptism  on 
Sunday,  June  7th,  1885.  The  pastor  left  in 
about  eight  months,  and  we  had  various  sup- 
plies for  some  time.  It  was  during  this 
period  that  I  received  the  "second  blessing," 
or,  as  it  is  often  called,  "sanctification."  It 
came  about  in  this  way.  I  read  in  the  reli- 
gious notices  of  a  "Holiness"  meeting  to  be 
held  in  South  Providence,  and  I  decided  that 
I  would  like  to  attend  it.  I  was  not  well 
enough  acquainted  with  Providence  to  know 
where  to  find  the  place,  so  I  spoke  to  one  of 
the  members  of  our  church  about  going  with 
me.  "What  is  a  Holiness  meeting?"  I 
asked.  "It  sounds  good  to  me."  Sarah 
shrugged  her  shoulders  and  advised  me  not 
to  go  at  the  risk  of  being  thought  queer;  but 
all  that  she  said  only  made  me  more  deter- 
mined, and  at  last  she  promised  to  accompany 
me. 

As  we  neared  the  place  of  meeting  that 
Sunday  afternoon  the  singing  was  inspiring — 
"You  may  have  the  joy  bells  ringing  in  your 


NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND      25 

heart'' — and  the  music  seemed  to  fill  me  with 
such  joy  that  I  felt  that  I  was  getting  a  new 
experience  already.  As  the  room  was  seem- 
ingly full,  seats  were  found  near  the  door. 
Everything  impressed  me  favorably.  There 
were  about  three  hundred  present  and  their 
faces  were  shining  with  intelligence  and  spir- 
itual power;  there  was  no  display  of  dress  or 
jewelry ;  I  felt  that  I  was  among  my  own,  and 
I  was  ready  to  listen  to  the  word  that  pro- 
ceeded from  such  wholesome  sensible  peo- 
ple. 

The  preacher  opened  his  Bible.  That  was 
right;  I  opened  mine  too.  We  read  the 
twenty-third  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of 
First  Thessalonians :  "And  the  God  of  peace 
himself  sanctify  you  wholly;  and  may  your 
spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  preserved  entire, 
without  blame  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  As  the  preacher  emphasized 
the  word  sanctify  the  people  responded,  and 
I  said  to  myself  that  this  must  be  the  key- 
note of  holiness.  I  marked  all  the  verses  that 
the  speaker  gave  us;  it  was  really  a  Bible 
reading  on  the  subject.  I  was  delighted. 
New  visions  were  opening  to  me  out  of  the 


26      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 


old  Book  that  I  loved  so  well.  Why  had  I 
not  seen  these  things  before?  Had  I  been 
blind?  Jesus  said  them;  John,  Peter,  James 
and  Paul  had  preached  them  and  had  written 
them  for  my  benefit;  and  I  had  been  in  the 
family  of  Christ  for  four  years  and  had  not 
seen  them.  Why,  the  preacher  was  giving  us 
the  very  honey  and  cream  of  heaven;  and  I 
was  so  hungry  that  I  was  just  swallowing  it 
down. 

As  soon  as  the  speaker  finished  my  friend 
and  I  left  the  hall,  as  I  had  to  lead  the  young 
people's  meeting  that  night  and  we  had  about 
three  miles  to  walk.  We  had  only  gone  a 
few  streets,  and  were  now  in  Adelaide  Grove, 
when  Sarah  said :  "What  do  you  think  of  the 
Holiness  people?'*  I  was  not  thinking  of 
people  just  then,  but  of  the  truth  which  I 
had  heard,  so  precious,  so  real,  so  true  that 
its  power  was  coursing  through  my  being  in 
electric  quivers,  and  I  said:  "Sarah,  on  my 
seat  in  that  hall  I  accepted  Jesus  as  my  Sanc- 
tifier.  I  believe  this  is  a  second  definite,  posi- 
tive work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  my  soul.  I 
knew  when  I  was  born  again ;  now  I  have  seen 
advanced  truth;  I  am  sanctified  by  faith  in 


NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND      27 

Jesus  just  now."  As  I  finished  my  testimony 
the  Holy  Spirit  flooded  my  soul,  and  I  cried, 
"Praise  the  Lord,  it  is  in  his  Word!"  We 
stood  still  in  that  grove  while  I  poured  out 
my  belief  and  my  praises,  and  Sarah  said, 
"Annie,  I  do  believe  God  has  done  something 
for  you,  for  your  face  shines."  But,  like 
Moses,  I  did  not  know  it. 

I  could  hardly  walk  home ;  I  longed  to  fly 
to  tell  our  people  what  God  had  done  for 
me.  My  friend  had  to  go  home,  as  she  had 
an  aged  mother  to  care  for ;  but  I  went  on  to 
the  church.  I  was  a  few  minutes  late,  which 
was  unusual  for  me;  and  the  young  people 
came  to  meet  me.  As  they  saw  me  they  ex- 
claimed: "Miss  Coope,  how  beautiful  you 
look!  Where  have  you  been?  Tell  us 
quickly."  I  thought:  "Can  this  be  true?  If 
it  is  it  only  proves  the  Scripture:  ^He  will 
beautify  the  meek  with  salvation,'"  Psalm 
149 : 4.     I  felt  the  beauty  within  uplifting  me. 

I  cannot  recall  all  that  I  said,  but  I  poured 
out  my  soul  to  them ;  and  I  had  them  all  turn 
to  their  Bibles  to  verify  the  things  which  I 
was  telling  them.  While  thus  talking  the 
deacon  who  supplied  as  pastor  came  in  so 


28      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

quietly  that  I  did  not  notice  him,  and  after 
listening  for  a  time  he  came  forward  and  said 
to  the  young  people ;  "All  that  our  sister  has 
been  telling  you  is  true.  I  have  longed  for 
such  an  experience  myself :  let  us  kneel  down 
and  pray  that  God  may  give  us  this  blessing 
now."  We  then  had  an  altar  service,  the  first 
that  I  had  seen  in  the  church.  While  we 
were  on  our  knees  the  older  members  of  the 
church  came  for  the  evening  service,  and  find- 
ing a  manifestation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  re- 
mained also  to  pray.  Many  were  blessed  that 
night. 

All  these  things  were  only  preparing  me 
for  service.  I  was  learning  to  know  God 
for  myself,  to  find  out  through  His  Word  what 
he  would  have  me  do.  I  continually  kept 
before  my  own  mind  the  thought  that  God 
wanted  me  to  be  a  witness  for  Him  to  those 
who  sat  in  darkness,  and  from  this  time  my 
purpose  was  fixed  though  the  way  did  not 
open  directly.  I  was  greatly  interested  in 
Sunday-school  and  young  people's  work,  mis- 
sions, and  open-air  services,  and  thus  step 
by  step  my  training  was  being  carried  on 
though  I  went  to  no  training  school 


NEW  LIFE  IN  A  NEW  LAND      29 

Several  American  missionaries  from  the 
West  Indies  had  spoken  in  our  church,  and 
as  a  result  my  interest  was  turned  definitely 
in  that  direction.  Theirs  was  a  work  of  faith. 
They  were  under  no  Board,  but  went  out 
trusting  God  to  supply  every  need  for  body 
and  soul,  and  I  felt  that  this  was  just  what 
I  would  like  to  do.  I  had  read  the  life  of 
George  Miiller  of  Bristol,  England,  and  his 
great  faith  encouraged  me  to  step  out  on  the 
promises  of  God.  Belief  in  divine  healing 
came  to  be  a  part  of  my  life,  and  I  have  al- 
ways carried  any  sickness  to  Him  rather  than 
to  a  physician. 


CHAPTER  III 

TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  AND  HOME  AGAIN 

IT  was  in  the  fall  of  1897  that  I  took  my 
first  definite  step  toward  the  foreign  field. 
Some  of  the  missionaries  from  the  West  In- 
dies had  spoken  of  the  need  for  workers  there, 
and  I  decided  to  go  with  them.  Their  condi- 
tions were  absolute  trust  in  God  for  all  things ; 
and  that  met  with  my  approval.  So  after  get- 
ting clearly  the  mind  of  God  in  the  matter, 
I  announced  in  the  church  that  I  was  going 
to  the  West  Indies  by  the  first  boat  that  I 
could  catch.  I  knew  nothing  of  the  cost; 
I  never  asked  the  superintendent  of  the  mis- 
sion one  question  about  money  matters,  for 
ail  the  workers  had  said  that  those  who  felt 
called  of  God  to  labor  with  them  must  trust 
God  to  supply  the  means.  So  I  was  trust- 
ing. I  had  felt  the  "Woe  is  me  if  I  preach 
not  the  gospel,"  and  I  was  going  to  do  it.  I 
went  from  that  service  and  began  that  night 

30 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  31 

to  look  over  my  wardrobe  to  put  it  in  order 
for  going  away. 

It  may  be  asked  if  I  had  not  saved  enough 
money  to  at  least  start  me  on  my  trip.  True 
I  was  called  a  good  weaver  and  had  earned 
excellent  wages;  but,  English  fashion,  had 
given  every  cent  of  it  to  my  mother  except 
the  Lord's  tenth.  I  took  that  out  before  her 
eyes,  saying:  ^^Mother,  this  is  God's  money, 
not  mine  and  not  yours."  She  said  that  I  was 
a  crank,  and  I  answered :  *^ Yes,  I  am  a  crank, 
turned  by  Bible  truth  and  Holy  Ghost 
power." 

Mother  heard  before  I  reached  home,  of 
my  declaration  in  church,  and  she  at  once 
asked :  "Where  are  you  going  to  get  the  money 
to  go  on  your  wild-goose  chase?" 

"From  God,"  I  answered;  "He  has  called 
me  to  go,  and  He  will  pay  all  the  expenses." 

The  following  Sunday  a  young  woman 
member  of  the  church  put  a  five-dollar  bill 
into  my  hand,  saying:  "I  believe  God  has 
called  you  to  go  to  the  foreign  field,  and  I 
want  to  share  in  your  blessings."  It  felt  very 
strange  for  me  to  take  it,  and  I  thanked  her 
with  mingled  feelings.    I  had  nerer  received 


32      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

money  from  any  one  before,  not  even  as 
Christmas  or  birthday  gifts ;  and  here  five  dol- 
lars had  been  given  by  a  young  woman  who 
worked  hard  for  it,  keeping  boarders.  It 
meant  sacrifice  for  her.  I  felt  that  God  was 
very  near;  that  this  was  a  token  of  His  ap- 
proval and  an  earnest  of  what  was  to  come. 
I  was  very  glad  that  God  had  let  a  poor  work- 
ing girl  help  me  first. 

On  the  same  Sunday,  at  night,  one  of  the 
deacons,  Daniel  Potter,  a  godly  man  and  the 
richest  one  in  our  church  from  every  point 
of  view,  rose  and  said:  "I  will  be  responsible 
for  our  sister  Anna's  expenses  to  the  West 
Indies." 

What  more  did  I  need?  God  had  pro- 
vided, and  that  right  quickly!  I  did  not  even 
handle  the  money;  the  ticket  was  given  to 
me,  and  that  sufficed.  I  did  not  talk  of  my 
needs;  I  never  do.  I  am  to  be  about  my 
Father's  business  and  He  takes  care  of  me. 
"I'm  the  child  of  a  King,"  and  no  beggar;  my 
Father  can  speak  better  for  me  than  I  can  for 
myself,  so  I  let  Him. 

I  packed  my  trunk,  quite  delighted  with 
God's  arrangements  for  me;  and  my  mother, 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  33 

helping  me,  did  not  raise  an  objection.  Some 
of  the  neighbors  came  in  to  act  as  Job's  com- 
forters, saying:  ^'How  can  you  let  your  only 
child  go  away  so  far?  Why  don't  you  stop 
her?  She  ought  not  to  leave  such  a  good 
home,"  and  similar  remarks. 

But  mother  was  staunch  in  her  defense. 
"You  can  talk  all  you  like  about  her  going 
away,"  she  said ;  "and  while  I  don't  want  her 
to  go  if  I  could  have  my  own  way,  still  I 
would  far  rather  see  her  go  than  marrying 
such  men  as  you  are  giving  your  daughters 
to!  No,  I  have  confidence  in  my  girl;  she  is 
doing  right  and  is  going  to  help  others  to  do 
right.  I'm  not  right  myself,  but  that  is  my 
own  fault." 

That  was  talk  that  went  right  home,  and 
the  neighbors  did  not  bother  her  any  more. 

Then  there  was  my  father  to  be  reckoned 
with.  He  said  that  I  was  a  fool,  with  an 
oath  before  and  after,  and  blamed  mother  be- 
cause he  said  she  was  helping  me  in  my  fool- 
ishness. All  the  mother  in  her  rose  to  the 
occasion.  "Harry,  you  have  been  threaten- 
ing for  years  to  put  Annie  out  of  the  house  be- 
cause she  had  religion.    Now  she  is  going 


34      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

herself,  and  you  will  be  well  rid  of  her  and 
her  preaching.     Let  her  go  I" 

For  years  my  father  had  been  angry  with 
me,  often  locking  the  door  at  night  and  or- 
dering my  mother  not  to  wait  for  me  to  come 
in,  though  I  was  rarely  later  than  nine  o'clock. 
Mother  would  listen  for  my  footsteps  and 
slip  down  and  let  me  in,  frequently  bring- 
ing down  a  storm  upon  her  head  for  doing 
so.  I  was  often  advised  to  leave  home  be- 
cause of  his  treatment;  but  I  felt  that  I  must 
bear  opposition  patiently:  that  it  was  really 
a  part  of  my  training  for  service;  if  I  could 
not  bear  unsympathetic  and  unkind  treat- 
ment at  home,  how  could  I  bear  what  I  would 
have  to  meet  on  the  mission  field?  Besides 
I  really  loved  my  father  and  prayed  for  him, 
and  I  had  the  assurance  that  some  day  he 
would  be  saved.  The  road  from  our  house  to 
the  church  was  a  very  lonely  one,  and  father 
often  said  that  he  wished  I  would  be  attacked ; 
but  his  wishes  were  never  fulfilled.  I  was 
God's  child  and  the  angel  of  the  Lord  en- 
camped about  me  and  delivered  me.  For 
thirteen  years  I  had  a  special  guard,  a  body- 
guard, and  I  rejoice  as  I  look  back  over  those 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  35 

experiences,  for  through  them  I  learned  to 
walk  by  faith,  to  know  God  as  a  personal  com- 
panion and  to  lean  on  Him  for  help.  God 
was  very  close  to  me  during  my  three  weeks 
of  preparation  for  my  journey,  though  my 
father  never  spoke  to  me  during  that  time  nor 
did  he  say  good-by  to  me. 

I  sailed  from  New  York  on  October  2nd, 
1897,  and  stopped  at  several  of  the  West  In- 
dian Islands,  holding  meetings  and  distribut- 
ing tracts.  When  we  arrived  at  Martinique, 
where  this  party  of  missionaries  had  opened 
the  first  Protestant  mission  to  the  French 
Catholics  on  the  island,  the  superintendent 
asked  me  to  stay  for  a  time.  I  could  not 
speak  a  word  of  French,  but  I  did  hand  out 
tracts  and  speak  a  few  times,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  mission  interpreting.  I  saw  the 
first  Protestant  converts  baptized  here.  What 
ignorance,  wickedness  and  idolatry  there  were 
in  that  city  I  It  is  little  wonder  that  God 
overthrew  it  I 

After  six  weeks'  stay  in  Martinique  I  went 
to  Barbadoes,  and  in  January,  1898,  there  was 
an  annual  convention  of  the  workers  in  the 
islands.     All  the  native  workers  who  could 


36      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

come  did  so.  One  young  woman  came  from 
Bolivar,  Venezuela,  South  America,  and  she 
told  of  the  Indians  living  in  huts  on  the 
banks  of  the  Orinoco  River,  of  their  pov- 
erty, their  sad,  dejected  appearance  and  their 
appeal  for  some  one  to  come  and  teach  them. 
Her  story  touched  my  heart,  and  I  said: 
"Lord,  if  you  v^ant  me  to  go  to  the  Indians  of 
South  America,  make  it  plain  to  me."  Like 
Gideon  I  laid  down  my  fleece  before  Him, 
asking  that  He  would  show  me  by  my  abil- 
ity to  learn  the  Spanish  language  whether  I 
had  the  fitness  to  go  there.  After  a  long  talk 
and  prayer  with  the  missionary  who  had 
brought  the  tidings  of  this  neglected  people, 
I  went  out  and  bought  a  small  book  called 
"Spanish  at  a  Glance"  and  began  to  study  it. 
I  certainly  did  not  learn  the  language  at  a 
glance — far  from  it! — but  I  was  enthusiastic 
from  the  start,  and  my  teacher  soon  declared 
that  I  was  getting  beyond  her.  I  had  not 
much  time  for  study,  but  I  improved  every 
spare  moment;  my  book  and  I  were  insep- 
arable. I  considered  that  this  was  a  leading 
from  God,  because  I  had  never  before  been 
able    to    tolerate    a    foreign    language.     My 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  37 

teacher  stayed  only  a  few  weeks,  and  I  was 
obliged  after  that  to  get  on  as  best  I  could 
alone;  but  I  loved  the  language  and  stuck 
to  it. 

I  remained  in  Barbadoes  for  two  years  or 
more,  when  a  party  of  us  started  for  Porto 
Rico  soon  after  the  close  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War.  I  was  the  only  one  in  the 
party  of  four  who  could  speak  Spanish,  and 
I  was  kept  busy  for  two  months  holding  open- 
air  meetings,  visiting  from  house  to  house  and 
distributing  tracts  and  Gospel  portions  to 
those  who  could  read  and  reading  to  those 
who  could  not. 

At  the  end  of  this  time  I  received  a  letter 
from  home  saying  that  my  mother  could  not 
live  and  that  I  was  needed  at  home  at  once. 
I  left  by  the  next  steamer,  glad  to  go  where 
the  Lord  called  me,  but  sad  because  of  the 
thousands  in  darkness  whom  I  was  leaving  be- 
hind me. 

I  found  my  mother  still  alive  but  beyond 
human  aid,  and  still  unsaved.  She  was  very 
glad  to  see  me  again  and  we  talked  much  that 
night,  mostly  concerning  her  soul's  condition. 
She  brought  forward  as  her  defense  her  mo- 


38      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

rality  and  her  good  deeds,  while  I  did  my 
best  to  show  her  the  way  through  Jesus'  blood 
as  the  only  heaven-appointed  way.  A  new 
birth,  a  complete  surrender  of  all  that  we 
think  we  are,  belief  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  confession  of  sin,  with  the  witness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  were  the  truths  that  I  brought 
before  her  continually  for  two  weeks,  and 
many  were  praying  for  her  at  the  same 
time. 

At  last,  under  the  fire  of  such  Catling  guns 
of  heaven,  she  surrendered;  and  oh,  what  a 
change!  She  was  indeed  a  new  creature,  and 
for  three  weeks  she  preached  Jesus  to  all  who 
came  to  see  her,  telling  them  that  if  she  had 
died  depending  on  her  own  respectability  to 
plead  for  her  she  would  have  been  lost  She 
urged  my  father  to  repent;  but  he  was  so 
grieved  at  the  thought  of  losing  her  that  he 
did  not  pay  any  attention  to  his  own  souPs 
need. 

In  my  mother's  rejoicing  over  her  new 
vision  of  spiritual  things  she  exclaimed :  "Oh, 
Annie,  is  this  what  you  have  been  talking 
about  all  these  years!  I  thought  sometimes 
that  you  were  crazy,  but  I  am  so  glad  that 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  39 

you  were  true  to  God  and  persevered  in  do- 
ing what  you  felt  called  to  do.  If  I  had 
known  this  fifty  years  ago  I  would  have  been 
a  missionary  and  gone  everywhere  to  tell 
about  Jesus.  I  did  think  you  were  foolish  to 
leave  a  good  home  and  go  out  to  work  among 
black  folks,  not  knowing  how  you  would  be 
treated,  but  now  I  understand  it  all.  Go 
again  when  the  way  opens.  You  will  have 
a  hard  time  with  your  father,  but  it  won't  be 
for  so  very  long.  Do  what  God  tells  you.  I 
am  going  home,  but  I  shall  be  watching  for 
you." 

Mother  went  to  be  with  her  Saviour  Sep- 
tember 24th,  1900,  and  I  could  only  rejoice  in 
her  triumphant  death. 

Now  there  was  another  complete  change  in 
my  life,  for  plainly  my  duty  now  was  with 
my  father.  For  more  than  six  years  I  re- 
mained at  home  with  him,  working  at  my 
trade  of  weaving  to  support  us  both,  as  he 
was  now  over  seventy.  We  owned  our  home 
and  were  very  comfortable.  Father  worked 
in  his  garden  and  among  his  chickens  and  was 
quite  well  for  years ;  then  he  had  a  stroke  and 
was  unable  to  leave  his  bed,  but  was  perfectly 


40      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

conscious  during  the  last  four  weeks  of  his 
life. 

Nine  days  before  he  died  he  called  to  me 
early  in  the  morning:  "Annie,  bring  your 
Bible  and  teach  me  the  way  to  heaven!'^ 

I  was  so  filled  with  joy  that  I  can't  tell  how 
I  got  hold  of  the  blessed  Book  and  hurried  to 
his  side.  God  had  answered  prayer.  Here 
was  a  helpless  old  man  seventy-eight  years  of 
age,  who  had  turned  from  God  all  his  life, 
now  wanting  to  be  shown  how  to  come  to  Him ! 
Surely  our  God  is  longsuffering!  I  quoted 
John  3:16  to  him  thus:  "God  so  loved 
Henry  Coope  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten 
Son,  that  if  Henry  Coope  believeth  in  Him 
Henry  Coope  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life,"  and  Isaiah  i :  18:  "Though 
Henry  Coope's  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow;  though  Henry  Coope's  sins 
be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool." 
As  I  finished  he  said:  "Pray  for  me!" 

"Oh,  no,"  I  answered;  "it  is  your  turn  to 
pray  now.  I've  prayed  for  you  for  twenty 
years ;  your  mother  prayed ;  your  wife  prayed ; 
now  you  must  pray." 

"I  don't  know  what  to  say." 


TO  THE  WEST  INDIES  41 

I  told  him  to  tell  God  that  he  was  a  sinner, 
and  he  said:  "God  knows  I  am." 

"Yes,  but  the  Bible  says:  *If  we  confess  our 
sins  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us.'  You 
want  Him  to  forgive  you:  tell  Him  so.  Do 
you  feel  happy?" 

"No,  I  feel  bad,  miserable." 

"Then  tell  him  so." 

"Why,  doesn't  He  know  all  that?" 

"Yes;  but  He  said,  *Come,  let  us  reason  to- 
gether,' so  you  see  He  wants  you  to  talk  to 
Him.  Tell  Him  everything  that  is  in  your 
heart  that  is  hurting  you  and  making  you  mis- 
erable.    He  will  cleanse  you.     Do  it  now." 

He  began  slowly:  "God,  be — mer — ci — ful 
to  m — e,  a  sin — ner,"  holding  on  to  his  words 
and  repeating  them  again.  Suddenly  he 
cried,  "Oh,  it  is  done!" 

"What  is  done?" 

"God  has  forgiven  me!  I  know  it!  I 
know  it!"  His  face  was  illumined ;  he  looked 
fairly  beautiful. 

I  was  so  happy  that  I  fairly  danced  through 
the  house,  and  I  felt  that  the  angels  were  re- 
joicing with  me.  Talk  of  joy!  Indeed  the  joy 
of  the  Lord  is  our  strength.     It  was  four  o'clock 


42      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

in  the  morning,  and  I  at  once  sat  down  to 
write  the  good  news  to  some  of  my  friends. 
One  letter  was  to  a  preacher  in  the  West  In- 
dies who  had  criticized  my  staying  at  home 
with  my  father,  saying  that  I  was  wasting  my 
time  when  I  had  a  call  to  the  foreign  field; 
that  I  ought  to  leave  him  in  a  Home  for 
the  Aged  and  go  and  preach.  I  told  him  that 
though  this  man  was  my  father  I  knew  he  was 
a  great  sinner,  and  I  felt  that  God  had  given 
me  this  heathen  at  home  to  convert  before  I 
could  go  to  the  Indians ;  that  this  was  a  part 
of  my  training  for  future  work  and  that  if  I 
wanted  God's  blessing  I  must  do  the  duty  that 
lay  right  before  me. 

My  father  began  to  preach  to  our  nearest 
neighbor  that  same  morning  at  eight  o'clock, 
thus  proving  that  "with  the  heart  man  believ- 
eth  unto  righteousness  and  with  the  mouth 
confession  is  made  unto  salvation."  For  nine 
days  he  lived  to  tell  the  story  that  Jesus  had 
saved  him.  He  said  he  was  like  the  Prodigal 
Son,  but  the  Heavenly  Father  had  taken  him 
home,  and  he  just  rested  with  childlike  confi- 
dence on  the  promises  of  God. 


CHAPTER  IV 

UP  THE  ORINOCO  TO  SAN  ISIDRO 

IN  a  month  after  my  father's  death  I  had 
disposed  of  the  property  and  furniture  and 
was  at  liberty  to  go  where  I  was  called.  Part 
of  the  money  that  came  from  the  sale  I  sent 
to  India  and  Japan  to  work  where  I  could 
not  go,  for  I  could  trust  God  to  supply  my 
needs.  I  spent  a  few  months  in  the  home  of 
a  friend,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Christian 
Mission  to  the  West  Indies,  doing  church 
work,  and  a  few  months  more  in  Rescue  Mis- 
sion work  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  Brockton, 
Mass.  Then  in  November,  1907,  I  started  to 
find  my  Indian  mission  field,  in  company  with 
several  missionaries  who  were  to  settle  in  the 
various  islands  of  the  West  Indies. 

I  stopped  at  the  island  of  Trinidad  to  wait 
for  a  steamer  bound  for  Venezuela  on  the 
mainland  of  South  America,  but  as  yellow 
fever  and  the  bubonic  plague  were  on  the 

43 


44      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

island  no  steamer  could  leave  there,  so  I  went 
to  Bridgetown,  on  the  island  of  Barbadoes, 
for  several  months,  believing  that  God  would 
open  up  the  way  in  time.  In  the  meantime 
I  received  a  letter  from  one  of  the  missionaries 
who  had  been  in  Venezuela  a  few  years,  trav- 
eling up  the  Orinoco  River  as  a  Bible  colpor- 
ter.  He  said  that  in  his  travels  he  came  to 
an  Indian  village  whose  chief  kindly  enter- 
tained him  for  three  days,  and  after  listening 
to  the  old,  old  story  of  Jesus,  bought  a  Span- 
ish Bible,  saying:  "I  cannot  read,  but  I  will 
get  some  one  to  read  it  to  me."  As  he  took 
the  Book  he  said:  "Gracias  a  Dios  por  este 
libror  "Thank  God  for  this  book!"  When 
I  read  that  letter  I  resolved  that  I  would  go 
to  this  chief,  and  I  prayed  God  to  help  me  and 
to  convert  him. 

But  my  faith  was  to  be  tested  again.  For 
months  every  vessel  for  Venezuela  was  quar- 
antined, so  that  no  passenger  from  Barbadoes 
was  allowed  to  go.  Many  said  that  it  would 
be  better  to  stay  in  the  islands,  but  my  heart 
was  set  on  work  among  the  Indians,  and  this 
colporter's  message  seemed  to  me  to  be  God's 
way  of  directing  me.     I  managed  to  get  a  let- 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  45 

ter  through  telling  the  colporter  that  I  was 
coming,  and  he  wrote  back  saying  that  he 
would  take  me  to  the  Indian  village,  although 
it  was  five  years  since  he  had  been  there  him- 
self, and  urged  me  to  come  at  once  if  pos- 
sible. 

But  now  came  another  testing  time  for  me. 
Before  leaving  the  United  States  I  had  noticed 
a  lump  or  swelling  on  my  tongue,  but  thought 
lightly  of  it.  When  I  had  reached  the  West 
Indies  I  found  it  was  larger,  and  later  on  it  be- 
gan to  give  me  some  pain.  I  thought  seriously 
of  visiting  a  physician,  and  finally  did  so. 
He  told  me  the  swelling  needed  attention,  and 
the  sooner  the  better.  I  decided,  however, 
to  talk  to  my  Saviour,  the  Great  Physician, 
and  carried  my  trouble  to  Him  in  earnest 
prayer.  I  did  not  speak  to  any  one  of  the 
pain  I  suffered,  nor  did  I  try  to  think  the  pain 
was  imaginary.  I,  however,  experienced  a 
strong  faith  that  God  would  help  me,  and  ere 
long  I  noticed  that  the  swelling  was  disap- 
pearing, and  in  a  short  time  was  entirely  gone. 
As  a  consequence,  I  felt  in  my  heart  a  great 
joy,  and  told  the  glad  news  to  all  the  house- 
hold and  to  all  my  friends,  realizing  that  what 


46      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

I  had  experienced  was  an  evidence  of  God's 
goodness,  faithfulness  and  power. 

At  last  one  morning  one  of  the  members  of 
our  band  came  into  the  house  saying  excitedly, 
"There  is  a  steamer  in  the  bay  now  which  is 
not  quarantined  and  is  bound  directly  for  Bol- 
ivar City,  Venezuela.  It  is  a  cattle  boat,  but 
perhaps  it  will  take  passengers." 

I  urged  him  to  go  at  once  and  secure  pas- 
sage for  me  if  possible,  for  I  was  all  ready 
to  start,  and  he  was  able  to  secure  a  place  for 
myself  and  the  two  colored  women  who  were 
going  with  me,  though  only  after  a  long  dis- 
cussion with  the  agent,  who  said  that  the  cat- 
tle ship  was  no  fit  place  for  a  white  woman. 
Finally  he  put  the  responsibility  on  the  cap- 
tain, saying  that  if  he  would  take  me  it  would 
be  all  right,  and  getting  this  much  assurance 
we  packed  our  belongings  and  went  aboard, 
believing  that  God  would  make  a  place  for 
us.  We  carried  food  for  the  three  days'  voy- 
age and  expected  to  eat  it  on  deck,  picnic  fash- 
ion, but  it  turned  out  that  we  were  even  better 
provided  for  than  we  had  expected. 

The  three  days  were  happy  ones.  I  had 
my  folding  organ  and  we  played  and  sang  for 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  47 

the  pleasure  of  all.  The  captain,  a  Nor- 
wegian, said  that  it  was  like  having  church 
all  day.  He  told  us  about  himself,  his  fam- 
ily and  his  plans,  and  we  talked  of  Jesus  and 
His  power  to  save  us  now  from  all  sin.  He 
told  us  that  this  was  an  ill-fated  vessel  and 
never  made  a  voyage  without  having  a  death ; 
but  I  told  him  there  would  be  no  death  on  it 
during  this  voyage,  and  there  was  not.  He 
told  us  that  if  he  got  that  load  of  cattle  to 
its  destination  in  Bolivar  City  and  the  ship 
back  to  one  of  the  West  Indian  Islands,  he 
would  return  to  his  family.  We  urged  him  to 
accept  Jesus  as  his  Saviour;  but,  though  he 
said  he  wished  he  could  have  the  assurance 
and  the  comfort  that  I  had,  and  seemed 
moved,  he  did  not  really  yield,  though  he  said 
he  "would  try  to  serve  God."  He  was  most 
courteous  to  us,  for  instead  of  letting  us  sit 
in  a  corner  and  eat  our  food  from  lunch-boxes, 
he  had  good  meals  cooked  and  a  waiter  to 
serve  us  at  table.  We,  like  brother  Paul,  had 
command,  under  God,  of  that  ship. 

The  poor  captain  did  not  live  long  after 
that.  He  went  to  a  town  about  three  miles 
away  on  business  and  contracted  yellow  fever 


48      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

and  died  before  he  had  gotten  his  cargo.  We 
heard  this  from  one  of  the  crew  whom  we  met, 
who  would  not  go  back  to  the  steamer,  and 
he  said  that  the  captain  asked  several  times 
for  me,  but  they  did  not  know  where  to  find 
me  in  the  city. 

We  were  now  ready  to  start  up  the  Orinoco 
River  when  we  found  a  boat  to  take  us,  and 
after  seven  days  of  waiting  and  looking  we 
found  a  man  who  owned  a  small  boat  who  was 
willing  to  undertake  the  journey.  He  and  a 
young  boy  did  the  rowing.  They  worked 
steadily  all  day  and  at  sunset  tied  up  the  boat 
in  a  little  cove  and  we  all  went  ashore.  We 
were  so  crowded  in  the  little  boat  that  it  was 
out  of  the  question  to  think  of  sleeping  there, 
and  we  were  weary  from  the  long  journey  in 
such  cramped  quarters  with  the  sun  beating 
down  upon  us,  so  that  it  was  a  relief  to  get 
out  on  the  white  sandy  bank  and  be  able  to 
move  about.  We  must  sleep  somewhere,  but 
the  question  was  where,  and  we  were  to  make 
an  early  start  in  the  morning. 

After  a  little  supper  I  suggested  that  we  lie 
down  on  the  sand,  and  the  captain,  a  Span- 
iard, kindly  offered  us  some  tarpaulin;  that, 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  49 

spread  on  the  ground,  would  be  a  protection 
from  sand-fleas.  My  girls  declared  that  they 
would  not  lie  on  the  ground;  they  preferred 
to  sit  up  all  night ;  but  I  was  glad  to  rest  lying 
down  even  if  it  was  on  the  sand,  and  I  slept 
for  perhaps  half  an  hour  when  I  was  awak- 
ened by  the  excited  twittering  of  some  birds 
in  the  bushes  near  by.  The  sun  had  set,  so 
I  knew  that  the  birds  ought  to  be  asleep,  and 
I  felt  that  there  was  trouble.  I  sprang  to  my 
feet  crying:  "Look  out!  there  is  some  danger 
near!"  The  captain  came  running  to  the 
spot  and  exclaimed:  "Ahi  un  cuebra  aqui!" 
— "There  is  a  snake  here!"  Of  course  we 
were  all  wide  awake  by  this  time,  and  sure 
enough,  in  a  moment  a  great  yellow  and 
black  striped  snake  glided  near.  "Look  for 
a  stick  or  a  stone;  screaming  won't  kill 
him!"  I  exclaimed;  but  instantly  the  cap- 
tain had  whipped  out  his  knife  and  struck 
at  the  snake's  head  and  he  was  soon  dis- 
patched. 

After  that  adventure  there  was  no  thought 
of  sleeping  for  my  three  girls — another 
young  colored  woman  who  could  speak  Span- 
ish had  joined  our  party.     But  I  said,  "A 


50      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

dead  snake  can't  harm  us  and  I  am  going  to 
sleep." 

"But  its  mate  may  come  to  see  where  the 
other  one  is;"  objected  the  frightened  girls. 

"Well,  if  it  does,  the  birds  will  notify  us. 
God  has  special  guardians  around  us.  Trust 
Him  and  go  to  sleep ;  you  need  the  rest." 

The  girls  were  not  willing  to  lose  conscious- 
ness, but  I  slept  sweetly  until  about  three  in 
the  morning,  when  we  were  called  to  start  on 
our  journey  again. 

The  next  night  we  beached  in  another  shel- 
tered cove,  cooked  our  evening  meal  and  wer^ 
preparing  to  sleep  on  the  beach  again  when 
a  party  of  Spaniards  came  running  toward  us 
and  asked  the  captain  if  he  had  any  rum  to 
sell.  One  of  the  men  wanted  to  know  what 
I  was  doing  here  in  this  black  crowd,  and  I 
told  him  that  I  was  going  to  the  Indians  to 
tell  them  of  Jesus  who  died  to  save  all  who 
would  believe,  and  I  talked  of  Jesus  to  these 
men.  They  said  that  the  Indians  were  of  no 
account;  I  ought  not  to  waste  my  time  on 
them.  Would  I  not  come  and  live  in  their 
house  and  teach  them  English?  They  in- 
vited us  up  to  their  house  and  treated  us  very 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  51 

civilly,  saying  that  we  could  hang  our  ham- 
mocks in  the  house  and  inviting  us  to  play 
cards  to  pass  the  evening.  We  could  see  that 
they  did  not  know  Jesus,  and  I  so  turned  the 
conversation  on  heavenly  things  that  there  was 
no  card-playing  that  night. 

We  hung  our  hammocks  on  the  piazza,  as 
the  house  was  saturated  with  their  everlast- 
ing cigar  smoke.  The  girls  could  not  sleep 
there  either;  but  I  committed  myself  into  my 
Father's  hands  and  slept.  The  next  morning 
the  Spaniards  gave  us  all  the  milk  we  could 
drink  and  a  few  pounds  of  home-made  cheese. 
See  how  the  Lord  provides  I  These  men 
looked  ferocious  with  their  pistols  in  their 
belts,  their  unkempt  hair  and  rough  clothing. 
But  they  had  hearts  that  responded  to  kind 
words  and  they  listened  attentively  to  the  story 
of  Jesus. 

The  third  day's  journey  took  us  through 
a  beautiful  country  that  would  have  de- 
lighted the  heart  of  an  artist,  and  I  enjoyed 
every  moment  of  this  succession  of  lovely 
views,  praising  God  that  He  had  made  such 
a  beautiful  world.  We  went  ashore  about 
five  o'clock.    There  were  still  thirteen  miles 


52      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

to  be  traveled  before  we  reached  San  Isidro, 
the  place  for  which  we  had  started,  and  this 
part  of  the  journey  would  be  by  land.  The 
first  thing  to  be  thought  of  for  the  night  was 
a  place  to  sleep.  There  was  an  adobe  house 
near  the  shore  where  the  traders  lived  and 
stored  their  hides  on  their  trips  from  the  in- 
terior. It  was  empty  now,  for  the  men  were 
away  buying  hides,  so  our  belongings  were 
taken  to  the  house. 

I  said  that  the  house  was  empty,  but  we 
had  no  sooner  entered  than  we  found  that  its 
roof  of  palm  leaves  was  inhabited  by  snakes, 
bats,  spiders,  and  other  crawling  things  un- 
known to  us.  There  was  one  room  with  two 
doors  and  no  windows,  but  one  of  the  doors 
was  so  strongly  fastened  that  we  could  not 
force  it  open.  However  we  made  a  fire  to 
try  to  smoke  out  the  tribes,  but  without  suc- 
cess; they  were  quite  used  to  smoke  I  The 
bats  still  hung  up,  the  whip-snakes  only 
twined  in  and  out  to  show  us  that  they  were 
yery  much  alive,  and  the  other  inhabitants 
evinced  similar  activity.  There  was  a  house 
near  by,  and  I  asked  the  Spaniards  there  if 
these  things  were  dangerous.    "Esta  nada;" 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  53 

they  replied,  which  meant  ^'That's  nothing," 
so  I  said  to  the  girls:  "I  don't  believe  in  being 
afraid  of  nothing.  I  am  going  to  sleep";  and 
in  spite  of  their  remonstrances  I  proceeded  to 
stretch  my  cot  and  have  a  good  rest,  American 
style  I 

We  had  to  wait  there  two  days  for  the 
coming  of  the  traders  who  were  to  guide  us 
further  on  our  journey,  and  we  improved  the 
time  by  visiting  the  two  Spanish  families  near 
us,  playing  and  singing  in  Spanish  for  them 
and  giving  them  Gospel  portions  and  tracts. 
One  man  could  read ;  we  heard  him  reading  to 
his  family  and  others,  so  we  felt  that  we  had 
done  a  little  missionary  work. 

On  the  third  day  toward  evening  the  trad- 
ers, who  had  come  down  with  a  load  of  skins 
the  day  before,  told  us  that  they  were  leav- 
ing, as  it  was  a  full  moon  and  it  was  cooler  to 
travel  by  night,  and  I  thought  that  a  moon- 
light trip  would  be  delightful  and  that  we 
would  be  in  San  Isidro  by  morning.  But 
they  had  evidently  planned  differently,  for 
after  we  had  gone  about  two  miles  they  came 
to  a  stop  at  a  large  adobe  house.  The  owner 
of  it  was  an  old  man  who  had  a  large  cattle 


54      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

ranch,  several  wives  and  many  retainers.  We 
found  that  it  was  he  who  owned  the  house 
where  we  had  spent  two  nights,  and  he  wanted 
us  now  to  stay  here  for  the  night.  As  the 
men  were  unhitching  the  oxen  from  the 
carts,  we  knew  that  there  was  nothing  else  to 
do. 

As  we  neared  the  dwelling  and  saw  several 
women  about  we  expected  to  find  that  the 
feminine  touch  had  made  that  dwelling  a 
home.  But  we  were  disappointed.  Such 
filth  I  had  never  seen!  We  had  to  pick  our 
way  oter  piles  of  refuse,  through  swarms  of 
flies,  pigs,  dogs  and  pools  of  tobacco  juice. 
Whew!  this  was  worse  than  bats  and  lizards 
and  snakes!  As  we  went  into  the  house  the 
pigs — ^fourteen  of  them — almost  tripped  us 
up.  Everybody,  men,  women  and  children, 
was  smoking.  What  an  atmosphere  for  the 
old  man,  who  was  very  sick!  I  counted  the 
next  morning,  when  I  could  see,  sixteen  per- 
sons, twelve  dogs  and  fourteen  pigs,  all  of 
whom  did  their  best  to  entertain  us.  The 
mosquitoes  and  flies  swarmed ;  lizards  jumped 
across  our  laps  to  catch  flies — everything 
seemed  to  think  we  were  one  with  the  crowd. 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  55 

On  the  rafters  was  a  gruesome  sight — a  coffin 
just  waiting  for  that  old  man  to  die! 

In  the  midst  of  that  filth  and  confusion  we 
were  invited  to  hang  our  hammocks!  I 
thanked  them  for  their  kind  invitation  but 
told  them  that  we  preferred  to  sleep  outside, 
it  was  so  nice  and  cool,  and  we  did  so. 

The  next  morning  all  were  astir  early. 
The  sick  man  wanted  to  talk  with  us  again. 
He  asked  how  much  money  we  were  going 
to  get  for  coming  up  this  way.  We  told  him, 
"A  hundredfold  in  this  life,  and  in  the  world 
to  come  life  everlasting."  We  asked  him  if 
he  understood  that.  He  said,  "Oh,  yes,  yes," 
but  for  fear  he  did  not  we  explained  that  God 
loved  the  world  and  gave  Jesus  His  Son  to  die 
for  us;  that  we  believed  in  Jesus  and  knew 
that  our  sins  were  forgiven;  and  that  as  Jesus 
had  said  that  His  disciples  were  to  go  into  all 
the  world  to  preach  His  gospel,  that  was  why 
we  were  coming  this  way  to  tell  the  Indians, 
and  he  added:  "And  me."  "Yes,  you;"  we 
replied.  We  told  him  that  we  had  not  bar- 
gained with  God  for  money,  and  as  no  man 
or  society  had  sent  us  we  did  it  for  love.  He 
said:  "Good!  good!" 


56      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

One  of  the  women  brought  us  a  calabash  of 
milk.  It  is  true  that  as  she  carried  it,  her 
thumbs  were  in  the  milk  and  in  one  hand  she 
held  a  long  black  cigar,  but  she  smiled  as  she 
offered  the  "lordly  dish."  The  bowl  was  so 
greasy  that  I  had  to  put  my  thumbs  as  hooks 
to  hold  on  to  it,  and  there  were  islands  of 
fertilizer  floating  on  the  top  of  the  milk,  but 
there  was  nothing  else  to  do,  so  I  blew  them 
aside  as  well  as  I  could  and  put  my  lips  di- 
rectly into  the  milk  instead  of  against  the  bowl 
and  drank  it  My  girls  were  horrified  and 
would  not  touch  it  themselves,  but  my  host- 
ess was  delighted  to  see  me  enjoy  her  hospi- 
tality. 

We  left  that  place  about  eight  o'clock  and 
started  for  our  eleven-mile  walk.  I  sug- 
gested that  we  follow  the  wagons  of  the  trad- 
ers, but  our  guide  said  that  he  could  take  us 
a  better  and  shorter  way,  so  we  tramped  up 
hill  and  down,  wading  rivers  and  so  getting 
beautifully  cooled  off,  for  four  hours,  when 
we  could  see  the  top  of  a  house  here  and  there 
in  the  distance.  There  was  no  well-beaten 
track,  the  grass  grew  in  humps  and  the  walk- 
ing was  hard;  but  we  were  nearing  our  In- 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  57 

dians,  which  rejoiced  our  hearts;  and  as  we 
had  been  so  cramped  for  three  days  on  the 
boat  this  was  good  exercise  for  a  change. 

About  two  o'clock  the  man  said  that  he  had 
evidently  gotten  out  of  the  way;  and  as  one 
of  the  girls  was  very  much  exhausted,  I  told 
him  to  go  on  alone  and  perhaps  he  could  find 
the  road  again.  We  prayed  the  Lord  to  di- 
rect the  man,  who  was  now  very  uneasy  about 
us,  because  the  wagons  held  all  our  food  and 
belongings,  and  we  might  have  to  stay  in  this 
spot  all  night;  then  we  put  up  our  umbrellas 
to  form  a  tent  and  I  slept  sweetly  for  three 
hours. 

When  we  thought  it  was  about  time  for  the 
man  to  come  back  we  began  to  sing  in  order 
to  guide  him,  and  by-and-by  he  appeared,  ac- 
companied by  two  Indian  boys  and  a  donkey 
for  the  white  lady  to  ride  on,  a  gourd  full 
of  water  and  some  cassava  bread.  We  just 
praised  the  Lord  to  see  them  all.  The  man 
said  that  the  carts  were  unloaded  and  the 
whole  village  was  waiting  to  welcome  us,  and 
that  the  chief  had  sent  the  donkey.  I  had 
never  ridden  any  animal,  but  the  Lord  had 
evidently  provided  this  donkey  for  the  girl 


58      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

who  was  so  lame.  She  knew  how  to  ride  and 
mounted,  the  boy  leading  the  animal  and  the 
rest  of  us  following  them.  The  water  tasted 
delicious  and  we  nibbled  the  bread  as  we 
walked,  for  we  did  not  want  to  lose  time,  it 
was  so  nearly  sundown.  We  soon  reached 
the  river  which  separated  us  from  the  village, 
and  the  Indians  began  to  carry  our  things 
over.  We  would  have  to  be  carried  over  also, 
as  the  river  was  too  deep  to  wade  and  none 
of  us  could  swim,  so  while  we  were  waiting 
the  girls  made  a  fire  and  boiled  some  cocoa 
and  we  had  a  good  feast  of  bread  and  cheese 
before  we  went  on. 

Once  over  the  river,  the  chief's  wife  greeted 
us  warmly,  took  off  my  hat  and  tried  it  on, 
examined  me  thoroughly,  took  my  hair  down 
and  untied  my  shoes;  I  had  a  real  massage 
treatment.  It  rested  my  head  to  have  it 
rubbed,  so  I  let  them  go  on.  I  laughed  and 
they  laughed,  and  so  we  became  acquainted. 

We  were  shown  our  new  home  by  moon- 
light. It  was  simply  a  huge  umbrella,  with 
no  walls  and  so  of  course  no  windows;  we 
could  have  the  air  freely!  One  of  the  In- 
dian3  wanted  to  know  what  wa$  in  the  black 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  59 

box  which  formed  a  part  of  our  baggage,  so  I 
opened  it  and  began  to  play.  Oh,  joy,  what  a 
delight  that  was !  One  of  the  women  made  us 
a  lamp  by  taking  a  leaf,  rubbing  some  kind 
of  grease  on  it  and  hanging  it  on  the  door-post 
of  our  house.  Its  flickering  light  made  the 
whole  scene  weird  enough  to  suit  the  most  ro- 
mantic nature. 

It  was  Saturday  night.  I  played  and  sang 
until  hoarse,  and  then  we  knelt  down  and 
prayed  for  these  people  among  whom  we  had 
come,  then  I  told  them  to  go  home  and 
come  again  to-morrow.  But  they  never 
moved  I  I  counted  seventy- five  men,  over 
fifty  women  and  some  children.  When  they 
made  no  move  to  go  away  I  had  them  put 
out  our  cots  and  I  lay  down  on  mine.  I  had 
not  been  undressed  for  six  nights,  but  another 
night  would  not  matter.  The  girls  said: 
"You  surely  won't  try  to  sleep  with  this  crowd 
around!"  But  I  said:  "Yes,  I  am  through 
business  for  to-night;  I  can't  hold  my  head  up 
any  longer.  You  may  entertain  them  if  you 
want  to  keep  awake,  but  as  for  me,  I  am  going 
to  sleep." 

About  daylight  I  opened  my  eyes,  and  there 


6o      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

stood  my  friends  of  the  night  before  as  mo- 
tionless as  wooden  men  and  women.  "Girls," 
I  called;  "are  you  asleep?" 

"Asleep!"  they  answered  with  such  disgust 
in  their  tones  that  I  laughed  and  laughed  till 
even  the  Indians  grunted  and  some  of  them 
showed  their  teeth  in  a  smile.  "Do  you  think 
we  could  sleep  with  these  wild  Indians  stand- 
ing over  us?" 

"Have  they  really  been  here  all  night?"  I 
asked  incredulously. 

"Yes,  indeed,  all  this  time  they  have  stood 
over  you  like  that,  and  here  we  have  sat  with 
our  hearts  in  our  throats  fearing  that  they 
would  kill  you  and  scalp  us." 

Then  and  there  I  preached  a  sermon  to  my 
Christian  helpers  about  trusting  in  God. 
"Don't  you  see,"  I  said,  "how  God  has 
guarded  us  every  step  of  the  way  since  we 
came  into  this  land?  He  has  protected  us 
from  snakes  and  all  hurtful  things,  has  raised 
up  friends  where  we  had  not  looked  for  them, 
and  now  has  let  these  men  stand  guard  over 
us  all  night  to  protect  us  from  we  do  not  know 
what   danger.     Where   is   your   faith?    We 


Miss    Coope's    "up-stairs  tenement"    at  Kio    Diablo.      Native  jrrass 
houses  on  the  left. 


A  nearer  view  of  the  author's  home.     The  hr&t  Hoor  is  the  school- 
house  and  mission.    Chief  Robinson  has  on  a  black  derby  hat. 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  6i 

are  on  business  for  the  King,  and  has  He  not 
promised  to  take  care  of  us?" 

"Yes,  we  know  that,  but — " 

"You  seem  to  ^but'  so  much  against  things 
that  come  in  your  way  that  the  buts  are  rob- 
bing you  of  your  needed  rest  through  fear  of 
man.  Our  God  neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps, 
and  we  can  trust  ourselves  with  Him."  My 
experience  for  thirteen  years  along  that  lonely 
country  road  back  in  my  home  came  to  my 
mind,  and  I  praised  God  for  my  training. 

While  the  girls  prepared  breakfast  I  played 
the  organ,  for  the  first  words  my  Indian  au- 
dience said  to  me  after  my  morning  greeting 
were:  "Blanca  senora,  toca  la  musica" — 
"White  lady,  play  the  organ;"  so  they  had 
evidently  waited  all  night  for  that.  I  played 
for  some  time,  then  we  ate  our  breakfast  and 
prayed,  and  then  I  told  the  people  that  this 
was  the  Lord's  day  and  God  had  commanded 
that  we  should  not  work  on  th^t  day.  We 
ourselves  did  as  little  work  as  possible. 

My  first  call  was  on  the  chief,  who  was  very 
sick.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  the  Bible  which 
he  had  bought  of  the  colporter.     He  said  he 


62      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

had  not;  that  some  Spaniard  had  taken  it  to 
read  and  had  not  returned  it.  He  said  he  was 
glad  that  we  had  come  to  his  village,  and  I 
answered,  "I  have  come  to  live  here  and  teach 
you  and  your  people  about  Jesus." 

"Ah,  white  lady,"  he  said;  "that  is  good,  but 
why  did  you  not  come  sooner?  It  is  too  late 
for  me :  I  am  dying." 

I  hardly  knew  how  to  answer  that  poor  dy- 
ing Indian,  but  I  put  up  a  petition  to  God 
for  wisdom  and  told  him  that  I  had  come  as 
soon  as  I  heard  about  him.  That  seemed  to 
pacify  him  somewhat,  but  here  was  another 
question :  "Did  your  people  know  this  a  long 
time  ago?  Why  did  they  not  come?  My 
people  have  died  and  did  not  know;  no  one 
came  from  your  land  to  tell  us." 

I  was  smitten  with  grief  at  the  backward- 
ness of  our  people  and  could  say  nothing. 
What  would  you  who  read  these  words  have 
said?    What  will  you  say  at  the  Judgment? 

The  chief  was  so  weak  after  our  talk  that 
it  seemed  as  though  the  end  was  near.  Here 
I  had  come  to  tell  this  man  more  about  Jesus 
and  his  salvation,  and  he  was  going  to  die 
right  before  my  eyes,  in  the  dark,  with  only 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  63 

reproaches  on  his  lips  that  we  had  not  come 
sooner.  I  felt  a  wave  of  faith  sweep  over  me, 
and  said  to  the  chief's  brother:  "Oh,  let  us 
pray!  This  man  must  not  die  yet;  he  is  not 
saved!  He  must  be  saved,  and  I  believe  God 
will  raise  him  up  for  that  purpose." 

I  knelt  down  by  the  side  of  his  hammock 
and  told  him  that  I  was  going  to  pray  to  God 
to  heal  him  so  that  he  might  live  and  hear 
the  gospel  of  Jesus.  He  nodded  his  head 
feebly.  I  laid  my  hands  on  him  and  prayed 
and  he  broke  out  in  a  perspiration.  I  left 
him  and  went  to  visit  others,  returning  home 
about  five  o'clock.  We  had  just  started  a 
song  service  when  the  chief's  wife  came  run- 
ning to  the  place  of  meeting,  crying:  "Oh, 
white  lady,  the  chief  is  better,  is  better,  is  bet- 
ter!" She  said  that  he  slept  after  I  left,  for 
two  hours,  the  first  in  two  weeks,  and  when 
he  woke  he  asked  for  a  drink  of  milk  and  it 
had  stayed  on  his  stomach ;  now  he  was  sleep- 
ing again.  I  told  the  wife  to  praise  God,  for 
He  had  done  this.  God  surely  answered  my 
prayer,  for  in  a  few  days  the  chief  came  to  see 
us  and  accepted  Jesus  that  very  day. 

On  Monday  I  asked  the  Indians  to  build 


64      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

a  wall  of  bamboos  around  one  corner  of  our 
house  so  that  we  could  have  a  bedroom,  and 
we  made  the  cots  up  with  clean  linen,  hung 
up  towels  and  arranged  our  belongings  as 
tastefully  as  we  could.  When  we  had  fin- 
ished our  new  home  looked  delightful  to  us, 
and  to  the  poor  Indian  women  who  watched 
every  movement,  talking  volubly  over  every 
arrangement,  it  must  have  seemed  like  a  bit 
of  fairyland.  They  exclaimed  over  every- 
thing and  touched  things  as  if  they  were 
afraid  they  might  be  alive. 

After  I  put  up  a  piece  of  burlap  to  form 
a  door  they  did  not  seem  to  think  they  could 
go  past  it,  so  I  called  one  who  seemed  very 
anxious  to  look  and  took  her  inside.  I  showed 
her  my  looking-glass,  and  she  ran  toward  the 
others  with  childish  delight  to  let  them  see 
their  faces;  some  were  afraid  of  the  self  that 
they  saw  in  the  glass.  After  that  exhibition 
she  wanted  to  go  in  again,  so  I  took  her.  This 
time  she  noticed  the  red  and  yellow  cot  cover 
one  of  the  girls  had,  and  taking  it  off  of  the 
cot  she  put  it  around  her  Indian  fashion, 
slipped  her  feet  into  a  pair  of  red  carpet  slip- 
pers, then  taking  down  my  hat  and  putting  it 


UP  THE  ORINOCO  65 

on  she  walked  out  again  wondrously  arrayed. 
Her  companions  were  delighted. 

I  next  showed  the  woman  my  cot,  and  she 
examined  the  springs  and  motioned  to  me  to 
get  in,  which  I  did  and  drew  the  mosquito 
netting  down.  She  thought  that  was  fine; 
and  when  I  got  up  she  got  in,  and  that  was 
still  finer!  She  brought  all  the  women  in  to 
see  the  things  from  far  away,  and  it  was  a 
great  day  for  them. 

There  were  three  brothers  who  lived  eight 
miles  from  us  who  had  lived  with  a  Spanish 
family  and  learned  to  read.  When  they 
came  to  see  us  I  gave  them  a  New  Testament 
and  had  them  read  to  us  and  we  read  to 
them.  They  were  so  happy  that  they  spent 
the  day  with  us,  and  soon  they  accepted  Jesus, 
and  visited  us  often  to  learn  more  about  the 
way  of  life.  I  often  found  them  in  the  other 
houses  talking  of  Christ  and  His  love  for  all 
men. 

We  had  a  service  every  afternoon,  as  that 
seemed  the  best  time  to  reach  the  people. 
The  Indians  go  to  bed  early  and  rise  early 
as  a  rule.  They  stopped  work  about  three 
o'clock,  and  we  had  our  service  from  four  to 


66      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

six  usually  and  retired  at  sundown.  This  was 
really  the  most  practical  thing  to  do,  for  the 
mosquitoes  came  out  in  droves  about  that  time 
and  we  were  glad  to  get  under  the  shelter  of 
our  nets.  The  netting  did  not  shelter  us  from 
the  snakes  in  the  roof  nor  from  the  larger  ones 
that  sometimes  came  into  our  houses ;  but  God 
protected  us  and  we  were  never  bitten. 
Every  morning  we  visited  each  house  in  the 
village,  talking,  reading,  praying  and  sing- 
ing, and  so,  with  the  afternoon  services  and 
the  morning  round  of  visits,  we  kept  in  touch 
with  both  the  men  and  women  in  a  public  way 
and  in  their  home  life. 


CHAPTER  V 

WORK  ENDED  IN  VENEZUELA 

FOR  four  months  we  lived  in  San  Isidro. 
The  chief  sent  men  to  the  woods  to  cut 
logs  to  build  us  a  house,  and  we  picked  out  a 
lot  high  and  dry  and  were  planning  to  settle, 
when  the  chief  became  ill.  He  was  appar- 
ently not  seriously  sick  and  was  only  a  few 
days  in  bed.  I  called  on  him  and  talked  of 
Jesus,  and  he  seemed  cheerful  and  did  not 
speak  of  dying  until  the  last  day,  when  I  said 
to  him:  "You  are  not  going  to  leave  us  so 
quickly,  are  you?"  and  he  replied;  *^Oh,  no, 
sister,  but  if  I  do  I  shall  go  to  Jesus.  He  has 
forgiven  my  sins  and  I  am  glad." 

After  talking  with  him  I  visited  other 
houses,  finding  several  sick,  and  then  went 
home.  Soon  the  wife  of  the  chief's  sister 
came  running  to  me  crying:  "The  chief  is 
dead ;  he  has  gone  to  Jesus  1"  I  could  scarcely 
believe  the  news  and  went  at  once  to  the 

(^1 


68      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

house.  He  had  died  two  hours  after  I  left 
him.  His  body  was  rolled  in  a  sheet  and  laid 
in  his  hammock,  with  his  hat,  sandals  and  gun 
laid  on  top.  Every  one  was  weeping.  I 
went  to  the  widow  and  put  my  arm  around 
her  and  wept  with  her.  I  could  only  say, 
*^Gone  to  Jesus  1"  and  she  nodded  understand- 
ingly. 

Two  other  persons  died  that  same  week, 
and  a  fear  came  upon  the  rest  that  some  dis- 
ease was  going  to  carry  them  all  off.  After 
four  days  of  mourning,  weird  singing  and 
dancing  around  the  chief's  body,  they  carried 
it  eight  miles  away  to  bury  it.  I  went  to  the 
funeral.  After  that  was  over  they  burned  the 
chief's  house  and  many  other  houses,  and  the 
men  came  to  tell  me  that  they  were  going  to 
the  mountains;  they  had  no  chief,  and  until 
they  appointed  a  new  chief  they  would  not 
live  together  again,  and  never  on  that  spot,  for 
death  was  there  and  they  must  go. 

"I  will  go  with  you,"  I  said;  "for  I  don't 
want  to  live  here  without  you  all.  I  have 
come  to  teach  you  and  I  will  stay." 

"Oh,  no,  white  lady,  you  go  back  to  your 
people  I    The   mountains   are   no   place   for 


WORK  ENDED  69 

you;  in  the  rainy  season  there  is  much  sick- 
ness. We  are  glad  you  came  to  tell  us  about 
Jesus,  and  will  not  forget,  but  we  are  going 
far,  far  away." 

About  that  time  an  old  man  who  had  traded 
for  years  along  that  territory,  going  by  mule- 
back  with  a  pack  of  cloth,  tobacco,  etc.,  came 
to  the  village  and  saw  the  condition  of  things 
and  talked  with  me.  He  said  that  this  break- 
ing up  was  their  custom,  and  he  showed  me 
the  charred  logs  of  a  once  large  village  where 
this  tribe  had  lived.  There  had  been  small- 
pox, many  had  died,  and  wisely  they  had 
burned  the  houses  and  the  dead  to  stop  the 
disease.  Then  they  had  scattered,  and  about 
eight  years  ago  had  built  this  present  village 
of  about  thirty  houses,  "which  they  will  now 
desert,"  he  said,  "and  live  here  and  there  scat- 
tered until  they  rally  around  a  man  in  confi- 
dence to  make  him  their  chief." 

I  have  not  spoken  of  these  traders,  but  there 
had  been  several  of  them  at  the  village  while 
we  had  been  there,  and  there  were  some  inci- 
dents of  our  work  that  were  brought  about 
by  their  coming.  They  always  brought  rum 
and  tobacco,  and  we  had  witnessed  several 


70      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

sprees  as  the  result  of  their  visits.  They  were 
really  thieves,  for  they  robbed  the  poor  In- 
dians shamefully.  One  of  the  industries  of 
the  village  v^as  the  raising  of  cassava.  The 
men  cultivated  it  and  the  women  grated, 
pressed  and  dried  it,  then  made  it  into  cakes, 
which  were  sold  for  ten  cents  apiece  in  the 
city.  They  made  a  great  many  daily,  and 
when  the  traders  did  not  come  to  rob  them 
in  exchange  for  liquor  and  tobacco,  the  men 
took  the  cakes  overland  on  the  backs  of  their 
donkeys  and  sent  them  by  boat  to  the  city. 

But  often  five  or  six  men  would  come  up 
with  a  load  of  rum  and  give  the  Indians 
enough  to  make  them  drunk,  when  they  would 
take  the  cakes  in  "payment"  for  the  liquor. 
That  night  two  or  three  of  the  men  would  go 
off  with  a  load  of  cakes,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing when  the  Indians  were  sober  there  would 
be  a  reckoning,  when  the  traders  would  claim 
that  they  had  not  been  paid  or  paid  enough, 
and  then  more  cakes  had  to  be  made  to  pay 
their  "debts."  In  order  to  coax  them  to  do 
this  the  traders  would  give  them  more  liquor, 
thus  robbing  them  wholesale.  The  chief  was 
wise  and  did  not  trade  with  them,  and  he  and 


WORK  ENDED  71 

some  of  the  others  told  me  about  the  robbery 
that  went  on.  I  told  them  that  the  next  time 
a  band  of  traders  came  the  men  must  come  to 
my  house  and  not  take  any  of  the  ^'treats"  of 
rum  offered  to  them. 

One  afternoon  a  party  came  up  and  there 
was  a  great  display  of  bottles.  I  sent  one  of 
the  men  to  call  all  the  village  to  my  house 
and  we  kept  them  until  sundown.  During 
that  meeting  two  of  the  Spanish  traders  came 
in,  one  with  his  machete,  a  long  sword-like 
knife,  and  the  other  with  a  revolver  in  his 
belt.  One  sat  behind  me,  the  other  sat  in 
front.  I  spoke  to  them  and  they  turned  their 
heads.  The  girls,  always  fearful,  said:  "Miss 
Coope,  let  the  Indians  go.  These  men  are  up 
to  something  bad;  the  one  behind  you  will 
stick  his  knife  into  you." 

"Oh,  no,  he  won't;''  I  answered.  "You 
pray  and  trust  God  and  He  will  keep  us  from 
harm." 

This  conversation  went  on  while  I  was  find- 
ing another  hymn,  and  we  started  to  sing 
"Down  at  the  Cross."  As  we  sang  the  man 
in  front  of  me  took  out  his  revolver  and 
pointed  it  only  about  a  foot  from  my  face. 


72      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

I  heard  the  girls  exclaim,  but  I  sang  on  and 
looked  at  him,  and  then  one  of  the  Indians, 
who,  thank  God,  was  sober,  as  were  all  the 
rest  of  them,  sprang  at  the  man  and  struck 
his  arm  from  my  face,  while  another  caught 
him  by  the  scrufif  of  the  neck.  They  made 
him  fire  his  revolver  six  times  into  the  air  and 
held  him  while  he  unloaded  all  his  ammuni- 
tion, and  while  this  was  going  on  the  man 
with  the  machete  slipped  away.  The  service 
went  on,  and  every  man  of  the  village  except 
the  two  who  were  taking  care  of  the  would-be 
murderer  stayed  until  sunset,  when  they 
quietly  marched  single-file  to  their  own 
homes.  There  was  no  spree  that  night,  and 
the  traders,  defeated,  left  early  the  next  morn- 
ing, threatening  to  kill  us  because  we  had  pre- 
vented the  Indians  from  buying  their  rum. 
But  I  rejoiced  in  the  words  of  David: 

"In  God  have  I  put  my  trust,  I  will  not  be 
afraid; 
What  can  man  do  unto  me?" 

I  was  threatened  with  death  another  time, 
and  it  came  about  in  this  way.     A-  Spaniard 


WORK  ENDED  73 

came  to  the  village  with  a  woman  to  whom 
he  was  not  married.  He  could  read,  and  I 
talked  to  him  of  Jesus  and  read  to  him  and 
gave  him  a  Testament.  He  went  to  the  home 
where  they  were  staying  for  a  few  days,  and 
God's  Spirit  took  such  hold  of  him  that  he 
could  not  sleep.  He  got  up  and  read  the 
New  Testament  and  was  convicted  of  sin. 
He  told  the  woman  that  he  was  a  sinner,  and 
God  would  punish  him  and  her  too ;  that  they 
must  separate;  he  would  send  her  home  in  the 
morning.  She  vowed  that  she  would  kill  me, 
as  I  had  made  all  the  trouble,  and  she  started 
out  with  that  intention.  Her  countenance 
was  fierce  as  she  entered  my  house,  but  I 
smiled,  and  as  we  were  at  family  worship  I 
gave  her  a  seat  and  asked  her  if  she  could 
read,  and  as  she  said  she  could  I  gave  her  a 
Testament.  She  held  the  book,  but  kept 
looking  at  me,  so,  wondering  if  she  really 
could  read,  I  asked  her  to  read  a  verse.  She 
did  it,  and  from  that  moment  her  attention 
seemed  riveted  to  the  book.  Then  as  we 
were  about  to  pray  I  told  her  so  in  order  that 
she  might  understand  our  next  move,  but  she 
began  at  once  to  talk  about  herself.     She  said 


74      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

that  she  was  going  to  the  city;  that  "her  man'' 
was  sending  her  back;  and  she  began  to  cry. 

"Why,  is  he  not  your  husband?"  I  asked. 

"No,"  she  answered;  "and  it  is  all  through 
reading  that  book  that  he  has  turned  against 
me." 

I  saw  that  here  was  my  "woman  at  the 
well"  who  needed  the  water  of  life,  and  I 
spent  the  morning  talking,  reading  and  pray- 
ing with  her,  letting  my  usual  visiting  pass 
for  that  time.  She  confessed  that  she  had 
come  there  to  kill  me,  but  added:  "I  can't  do 
it,  for  you  are  a  good  woman.  I  am  bad,  but 
I  will  read  this  book  and  pray  to  God  to  help 
me."  She  left  in  peace.  The  man  remained 
a  few  days  longer,  then  went  farther  into  the 
interior,  carrying  his  Testament  with  him. 
Truly  the  entrance  of  God's  Word  giveth 
light! 

The  very  day  that  I  was  planning  to  leave 
for  the  city  this  man  returned  to  the  village. 
That  morning  before  daybreak  I  had  prayed 
very  definitely,  "Lord,  what  shall  I  do?"  and 
this  scripture  came  forcibly  to  me:  "Rise, 
and  enter  into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told 
thee  what  thou  must  do."     I  just  thanked  the 


WORK  ENDED  75 

Lord,  for  with  that  scripture  there  came  into 
me  a  "Go  ye"  spirit,  and  soon  after  I  rose,  this 
man  went  by  the  house.  I  called  him  and 
told  him  that  I  was  going  to  leave  and  asked 
him  if  he  could  get  word  to  the  man  with  the 
ox-wagons  to  come  and  take  my  things  and  he 
said  that  he  would.  We  had  a  long  talk, 
and  he  showed  that  he  was  very  happy  in  his 
new  life  and  said  that  he  read  the  Testament 
daily. 

Another  conversion  made  glad  our  hearts 
during  our  stay  in  the  village.  A  young 
Spaniard  of  intelligence  called  on  us.  He 
had  come  to  buy  sugar  and  cakes  from  the 
chief  and  was  told  that  there  was  a  white  lady 
in  the  village.  He  said  that  he  could  hardly 
believe  it  and  he  came  to  see  if  it  were  true. 
I  told  him  that  our  reason  for  coming  was  to 
teach  the  Indians  about  Jesus,  and  he  seemed 
to  think  that  we  were  wasting  our  time.  I 
quoted  Jesus'  command:  "Go  ye  into  all  the 
world;"  adding  that  this  was  a  part  of  the 
"all,"  and  that  we  had  come  at  His  command 
and  because  we  loved  Him.  That  opened  the 
way  to  ask  the  young  man  about  his  own  soul's 
condition  and  I  gave  him  a  Spanish  Testa- 


76      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

ment.  He  was  glad  to  get  a  new  book  and  sat 
there  and  began  to  read  it  at  once. 

This  young  man  lived  about  sixteen  miles 
from  the  village  with  his  father  and  mother, 
two  sisters  and  a  little  brother,  and  he  an- 
nounced that  he  would  bring  them  to  see  me. 
The  following  Sunday  the  father  and  mother 
came,  riding  in  style  mule-back.  They 
brought  milk  and  fresh  meat  and  spent  the 
day  with  us,  and  we  told  them  of  Jesus. 
They  invited  me  to  their  home,  but  as  I  had 
no  mule,  and  there  were  several  rivers  to  ford, 
I  never  was  able  to  visit  them. 

The  young  man  came  to  see  us  twice  a 
week,  however,  eager  to  read  and  to  question 
about  the  great  things  of  salvation.  The  fa- 
ther was  worried,  asking  when  he  came  over 
one  day:  ^Will  any  one  go  crazy  from  read- 
ing God's  Book?  My  son  tells  my  family  so 
much  about  the  Book  that  you  are  teaching 
him  that  I  am  afraid  they  will  all  b£  crazy. 
They  sit  up  all  night  to  read  and  talk."  I 
told  him  that  it  would  never  make  them  crazy 
if  they  obeyed  what  they  read,  but  if  they  dis- 
obeyed when  they  knew  the  truth  it  might 
make  them  crazy.     I  urged  him  to  pray  to 


WORK  ENDED  77 

God  in  Jesus'  name  to  help  him  and  all  of 
them  to  believe  what  they  read  and  to  obey 
it,  and  they  would  be  made  new  creatures  by 
the  power  of  God  coming  into  their  hearts. 

I  was  not  able  to  stay  to  see  the  results  of 
this  preaching  of  Christ;  but  I  believed  that 
God  would  take  care  of  the  seed  sown  in  their 
hearts,  and  having  given  a  testimony  there 
among  the  Indians  and  seen  the  results,  I 
could  leave  with  the  consciousness  that  I  had 
done  what  I  could  and  was  ready  now  to  go 
on  to  another  field  if  it  was  God's  will. 

Once  more  we  packed  up  our  belongings, 
said  good-by  to  those  whom  we  had  lived 
among  for  four  months,  and  started  toward 
the  river  again.  On  our  return  trip  we 
stopped  at  the  home  of  the  sick  man  on  the 
cattle  ranch  where  we  had  spent  the  night  on 
our  way  up,  swinging  our  hammocks  in  the 
porch.  The  man  was  much  better  and  walk- 
ing around.  We  told  him  what  God  had 
done  for  the  Indian  chief  of  San  Isidro  and 
he  asked  us  questions  about  heaven.  I  gave 
the  family  a  New  Testament  that  they  could 
read  for  themselves,  and  they  gave  us  milk 
and  fruit.    We  did  not  spend  a  night  at  the 


78      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

landing-place,  as  the  boat  arrived  almost  im- 
mediately and  we  left.  The  boat  was  larger 
than  the  one  we  came  up  on,  so  that  we  slept 
on  it  even  though  there  was  not  much  room. 
It  suited  the  girls  better  than  lying  on  the 
beach  and  they  were  able  to  sleep. 

On  my  arrival  at  Bolivar  City  I  found  a 
quantity  of  mail  waiting  which  the  colporter 
had  sent  by  some  Indians  that  he  knew  lived 
in  San  Isidro.  In  one  of  my  letters  was  a 
clipping  from  a  religious  paper  about  a 
woman  missionary  in  Colon,  Republic  of 
Panama,  who  was  going  to  the  Panamanians, 
asking  prayers  for  her.  On  the  margin  of  the 
paper  the  sender  had  written :  "This  may  be 
of  interest  to  you."  I  wrote  at  once  to  the 
missionary  and  also  made  preparations  to  go 
back  to  Barbadoes,  for  my  girls  were  not  will- 
ing to  go  through  any  more  experiences 
among  Indians.  We  left  Bolivar  City  May 
1st,  1909,  having  been  in  Venezuela  exactly  six 
months.  I  went  first  to  Trinidad,  where  I  la- 
bored two  months  in  the  Christian  Mission, 
and  then  returned  to  Barbadoes. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MY  ADVENTURES  IN  A  LAUNCH 

AFTER  two  months  at  Barbadoes  I  started 
for  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  not  hav- 
ing received  any  answer  to  my  letter  to  the 
missionary  inquiring  about  the  Panamanians, 
I  wrote  to  some  of  the  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Mission  inquiring  if  they  knew  of  any 
Indians  around  there  to  whom  the  gospel  had 
not  been  preached,  and  they  replied  that  they 
had  seen  some  walking  along  the  streets  of 
Colon,  barefoot  and  poor  looking,  who  evi- 
dently had  not  been  reached  by  any  mission- 
ary. 

When  I  reached  Colon  I  found  that  the 
woman  to  whom  I  had  first  written  had  been 
sent  to  Jamaica  for  her  health,  which  prob- 
ably accounted  for  my  not  hearing  from  her. 
Inquiring  further,  I  found  a  Methodist  min- 
ister in  Panama  City  who  said  that  he  had 
had  six  men  in  his  house  from  the  San  Bias 

79  , 


8o      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

coast,  one  a  chief  and  the  other  an  ex-chief, 
who  had  pleaded  with  him  to  send  a  teacher 
to  them,  a  woman,  because  no  white  man  was 
allowed  to  stay  on  their  islands  over  night. 
The  ex-chief,  John  Davis,  had  left  his  boy 
of  eleven  with  the  minister,  and  as  he  brought 
him  to  me  I  spoke  to  my  first  San  Bias  Indian. 

At  last  I  had  found  Indians  who  wanted  a 
teacher,  and  more  than  that  a  woman  teacher! 
I  was  ready  to  go  at  once,  but  there  was  still 
a  delay.  I  had  difficulty  in  getting  a  passage 
on  any  of  the  traders'  vessels.  Their  plea  was 
that  their  boats  were  not  fitted  for  passengers. 
One  man  said  that  the  missionaries  would 
spoil  his  trade. 

^^Spoil  your  trade  I"  I  exclaimed.  "We  are 
not  traders;  what  could  we  do  to  hurt  your 
trade?"  As  he  did  not  answer  I  added:  "Of 
course  if  you  sell  rum  to  the  Indians  I  shall 
certainly  do  my  best  to  spoil  that  trade." 

He  made  no  answer  again,  because  he  was 
guilty.  He  took  it  by  barrels  to  sell  to  those 
people.  That  trade  has  been  stopped  now, 
however,  I  am  thankful  to  say. 

I  finally  secured  passage  to  Nombre-de- 


ADVENTURES  IN  A  LAUNCH     8i 

Dios  on  the  American  tug  that  went  there 
daily  for  sand  for  the  foundation  of  the  Gatun 
Locks.  While  waiting  there  for  further 
transportation  I  preached  Jesus  and  scattered 
tracts  to  a  few  who  could  read.  This  roused 
the  ire  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priest,  who 
stood  afar  off  one  day  when  I  was  holding  an 
open-air  meeting.  Some  of  his  flock  were  in 
danger!  He  took  the  tracts  and  tore  them  up, 
scattering  them  along  the  street 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight  a  small  gasoline 
launch  going  up  the  coast  stopped  at  Nombre- 
de-Dios  and  I  secured  passage  on  it.  When 
the  priest  found  that  I,  a  Protestant,  was  go- 
ing to  the  Indians  with  that  dreadful  book, 
the  Bible,  going  where  some  of  his  brethren 
had  tried  in  vain  to  enter,  he  was  furious. 
He  tried  to  persuade  the  captain  not  to  take 
me,  but  as  my  things  were  already  aboard  the 
launch  and  several  were  there  to  see  me  off, 
I  said  to  the  captain:  "You'd  better  not  touch 
my  baggage!  Those  people  around  us  are 
Americans;  and  Americans  can  do  things!" 

He  laughed  and  said:  "Well,  the  padre  does 
not  want  you  to  go  up  to  the  Indians." 


82      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

"Never  mind  the  padre;"  I  said  decidedly. 
"I  am  going  up  on  your  launch  to  those  peo- 
ple because  God  wants  me  to!" 

There  was  much  palavering  between  him 
and  the  priest,  but  I  kept  quiet  and  prayed, 
going  aboard  the  launch  and  taking  my  seat 
next  to  the  priest  because  there  was  no  other 
place  to  sit.  Still  the  boat  did  not  go ;  they 
were  waiting  for  me  to  change  my  mind. 
But  there  was  no  prospect  of  that!  The 
Americans  who  had  watched  the  proceedings 
thus  far  came  up  to  the  launch  and  said:  "So 
you  are  going!" 

"Yes,  Fm  off." 

"It  really  doesn't  seem  safe:"  "Look  out  for 
that  man ;  he  is  very  angry."  "That  priest  will 
harm  you  if  he  can."  These  were  some  of  the 
comments ;  but  as  they  were  in  English,  which 
the  priest  did  not  understand,  he  did  not  get 
their  meaning  unless  he  judged  by  actions  and 
looks;  while  as  for  me,  my  mind  was  made 
up  and  there  was  no  turning  back,  whatever 
the  danger  might  be.  Finally  they  started, 
with  me  on  board! 

We  stopped  at  several  small  villages  on 
the  mainland  and  slept  that  night  on  the 


ADVENTURES  IN  A  LAUNCH     83 

launch.  The  next  forenoon  we  arrived  in 
the  vicinity  of  two  islands  near  the  mouth  of 
Rio  Diablo,  the  Devil  River,  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Colon.  The  chief  of  the  smaller 
island  came  on  board  the  launch.  He  could 
speak  a  little  English  and  asked  me  where  I 
was  going.  I  told  him  to  Mona,  which  is 
about  forty  miles  farther  west  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Panama. 

"Why  will  you  not  stay  here  and  teach  us? 
We  want  to  learn  English ;"  he  said. 

"But  you  have  the  priests  here;"  I  reminded 
him. 

He  said  that  the  priests  did  no  good,  and 
yet  he  bowed  to  my  fellow-passenger  and 
kissed  his  hand.  He  said  that  the  priests  had 
been  on  the  island  for  several  years,  but  none 
of  their  children  could  read  or  write;  they 
only  taught  them  to  pray  to  the  saints. 

I  told  this  chief  that  John  Davis  wanted  me 
to  come  to  Mona,  and  I  asked  him  about  the 
chief  on  the  other  island  as  we  lay  anchored 
in  the  bay  between  the  two  islands.  He  said 
that  he  was  his  nephew,  that  his  name  was 
Charles  J.  Robinson,  and  that  he  was  away 
on  the  mainland  working  on  his  plantation. 


84      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

so  I  did  not  meet  him.  The  chief  with  whom 
I  talked  was  Joe  Harding. 

The  priest  who  had  come  up  the  coast  thus 
far  with  us  remained  at  Harding's  Island,  but 
he  engaged  two  Indian  men  to  go  on  with  us  to 
Mona,  giving  them  rifles  from  a  box  of  twelve 
which  he  had  with  him.  The  last  words 
which  he  said  to  them  as  he  rowed  away  from 
the  launch  were:  *Telear  por  mi,"  "Fight 
for  me,"  and  some  of  the  men  said:  *^These 
Indians  will  kill  you ;"  telling  me  what  they 
had  heard  him  say.  I  said:  "Never  mind;  I 
trust  in  God  and  He  will  keep  me  safely." 
The  captain  swore  and  said  that  I  was  going 
to  get  him  into  trouble ;  he  wished  he  had  not 
brought  me. 

We  left  the  bay  in  the  afternoon  and  ar- 
rived at  Mona  about  five  o'clock  the  same 
day.  The  Indians  of  course  got  a  boat  and 
were  taken  to  shore  before  I  was,  and  as  soon 
as  I  could  get  a  man  that  understood  Spanish 
or  English — I  used  either  language  as  the  case 
demanded — I  inquired  for  John  Davis.  One 
of  the  men  pointed  him  out  on  the  beach  and 
rowed  me  to  him.  As  John  could  speak  good 
English  we  were  soon  chatting  eagerly.     I 


ADVENTURES  IN  A  LAUNCH    85 

gave  him  the  photograph  of  his  son  which 
the  Methodist  minister  in  Panama  had  sent 
by  me,  and  he  seemed  glad  to  see  it  and  asked 
about  him. 

While  John  Davis  and  I  were  talking  the 
two  Indians  who  came  up  on  the  launch  had 
called  the  people  into  the  chief's  house  and 
we  were  summoned  to  come  there  too.  There 
was  a  great  crowd;  it  looked  as  though  the 
whole  island  was  there.  I  was  seated  by  the 
side  of  the  chief,  while  John  Davis,  being  an 
ex-chief — now  second  chief — sat  at  my  left. 
The  crowd  was  in  front  of  us,  the  two  messen- 
gers, each  with  a  rifle,  at  the  front  looking 
very  important  and  trying  to  impress  me  with 
their  importance.  But  I  was  very  busy  look- 
ing at  the  women  and  babies  and  refused  to 
be  properly  impressed.  There  seemed  to  be 
an  endless  chain  of  women  and  girls,  each 
with  a  baby  on  her  hip. 

When  everybody  came  to  order  John  Davis 
spoke.  He  told  the  chief  that  I  had  come  to 
teach  them  the  Bible  and  how  to  read  and 
write  in  English,  as  they  wanted  that  lan- 
guage. With  every  few  words  the  chief 
grunted,   as   did  everybody  after  him,   and 


86      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

finally  the  tension  was  getting  so  great  that 
I  grunted  too  and  felt  better!  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  whole  story  was  told,  for  it  seemed 
to  me  that  in  the  middle  of  it  there  was  a  sud- 
den break,  the  two  men  jumping  to  their  feet 
and  crying:  "Pelear!  pelear!  pelear!"  Every 
one  took  up  the  cry,  and  I  felt  like  doing  the 
same,  so  great  was  the  excitement,  only  I  felt 
that  I  must  watch  proceedings,  so  I  sat  still, 
as  did  also  the  two  chiefs.  When  the  con- 
fusion stopped  I  asked  John  what  it  all  meant. 

"Oh,  white  lady;"  he  said,  "I  am  sorry,  but 
you  cannot  stay  here.  The  padre  has  told 
these  two  men  that  you  are  a  bad  woman  and 
we  must  not  let  you  stay." 

I  had  no  thought  of  being  sent  away  in  this 
peremptory  fashion  without  at  least  a  protest. 
I  understood  the  influence  at  work  and  how 
these  simple-minded  people  had  been  influ- 
enced against  me,  but  I  would  not  go  without 
a  plea  for  them  to  hear  me,  so  I  asked  John 
Davis  if  he  could  not  quiet  the  people  so  that 
they  would  listen  to  what  he  had  to  say  about 
me.  The  Indians  were  gathered  in  clusters 
and  were  all  talking  at  once,  here,  there,  and 
yonder.    It  was  very  interesting  and  exciting. 


ADVENTURES  IN  A  LAUNCH    87 

The  women  were  talking  too,  of  course,  though 
what  their  attitude  was  I  did  not  find  out 
until  later. 

While  waiting  for  the  decision  I  was  rest- 
ful regarding  the  whole  matter  and  prayed 
to  God  to  overrule.  Finally  John  said :  "You 
had  better  go!  These  two  men  will  kill  you 
if  you  do  not." 

He  had  hardly  spoken  the  words  when  one 
of  the  willing-to-be  murderers  caught  me  by 
the  wrist  and  pulled  me  from  my  seat  and 
pushed  me  forward.  Then  I  found  out  with- 
out any  questioning  what  the  women's  atti- 
tude toward  me  was.  They  screamed  when 
I  passed  them,  pulled  the  children  out  of  my 
way  as  if  I  would  contaminate  them,  spit  at 
me  and  made  faces.  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing of  the  way  many  so-called  Christians  treat 
a  woman  of  the  street,  shrinking  from  even 
the  touch  of  her  clothing.  These  Indian 
women  are  made  up  of  the  same  sinful  tend- 
encies and  can  show  them  when  they  are 
under  provocation.  They  were  not  going  to 
be  contaminated  by  the  touch  of  such  a  one 
as  I! 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  turmoil,  instead  of 


88      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

having  fear  I  was  very  conscious  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  and  said  to  myself :  *^This  must 
be  one  of  the  ^all  things'  that  I  can  bear 
through  Jesus'  help.  I  did  not  understand, 
but  I  could  trust  God  and  I  did. 

As  the  man  who  was  leading  me  put  me  into 
the  canoe  he  was  so  excited  that  he  tipped  it 
in  such  a  way  that  it  filled  half  full  of  water, 
so  there  I  sat  up  to  my  shoe-tops  in  water. 
As  there  was  no  accommodation  on  the  launch 
except  to  sit  in  one  place  day  and  night,  I 
could  do  nothing  but  sit  still  and  let  my  cloth- 
ing dry  as  it  could.  But  there  are  worse 
things  than  that,  and  I  did  not  catch  cold  or 
have  the  fever,  as  some  of  the  crew  said  I 
would.  The  captain  frankly  said  he  hoped  I 
would  die  from  the  exposure;  but  the  sinner's 
hopes  are  vain.  My  hope  was  in  God,  and 
He  did  not  fail  me. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BACK  TO  COLON 

THE  launch  which  had  brought  me  thus 
far  had  to  go  up  the  coast  three  days' 
journey,  and  as  there  was  no  other  boat  by 
which  I  could  return  to  Colon  I  had  to  go  on 
also.  When  I  went  aboard  at  Nombre-de- 
Dios  I  had  carried  only  a  little  luncheon  in 
my  bag,  for  I  expected  to  be  at  my  destination 
in  a  few  hours,  but  it  took  the  better  part  of 
two  days.  The  second  day  I  had  asked  for 
some  of  the  rice  and  freshly  caught  fish  that 
the  crew  were  cooking  only  a  few  feet  from 
me,  but  they  would  neither  give  nor  sell  any 
of  the  food,  so  I  was  hungry  yet  not  suffering. 
I  had  part  of  what  my  Father  had  promised 
me  to  keep  up  my  strength,  namely,  water, 
so  I  drank  that  and  thanked  Him,  feeling  sure 
that  the  bread  would  come  later,  because  God 
has  said:  *^His  bread  shall  be  given  him;  his 
waters  shall  be  sure."    Not  having  had  the 

89 


90      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

privilege  of  unloading  any  of  my  boxes  from 
the  launch  when  we  stopped  at  Mono ;  and  the 
chief  and  John  Davis  not  having  had  time  to 
entertain  me  even  if  they  had  felt  so  disposed, 
I  had  no  food  that  day  or  that  night.  But 
"He  giveth  unto  His  beloved  sleep,"  so  I  had 
that  rest  and  refreshment.  We  went  on  all 
the  next  day,  coming  to  a  large  island  toward 
evening,  and  I  had  nothing  to  eat  that  day 
either. 

As  the  launch  stopped  in  the  bay  I  spoke 
to  some  of  the  Indians  and  found  a  few  who 
could  understand  English  a  little.  I  told 
them  that  I  would  like  to  see  the  chief,  but 
they  said  it  was  too  near  sundown;  that  no 
foreigner  was  allowed  on  shore  when  the  sun 
set.  I  promised  that  I  would  come  back  as 
quickly  as  possible,  so  they  took  me  to  the 
chief's  house.  He  received  me  very  gra- 
ciously, bowing  low,  and  I  bowed  slightly 
and  was  made  to  take  a  seat  of  honor  at  his 
right.  By  means  of  several  of  the  chief's  men, 
some  of  whom  understood  a  little  English 
and  some  a  little  Spanish,  I  made  them  under- 
stand that  I  wanted  to  come  and  start  a  school 
among  them.    They  talked  together  volubly 


BACK  TO  COLON  91 

for  a  time  and  finally  told  me  that  they  did 
not  want  a  school.  They  were  Indians,  and 
no  Indians  learned  to  read  or  write;  it  was 
not  good.  Then  with  a  very  gracious  bow 
from  the  chief  I  knew  that  I  was  dismissed, 
and  I  turned  to  go  to  the  launch,  being  es- 
corted by  a  curious  crowd.  The  women  cen- 
tered their  attention  on  my  clothes,  with  an 
interest  quite  similar,  only  differently  ex- 
pressed, to  that  of  women  of  more  enlightened 
countries  when  something  new  comes  before 
them.  They  felt  the  texture  of  my  garments, 
and  touched  my  hat  and  my  hair  and  my  shoes 
in  such  a  way  that  I  exclaimed:  *'Oh,  vain 
woman,  everywhere  the  samel  Color  does 
not  change  the  natural  curiosity  and  vanity." 
The  men  on  the  launch  had  somehow  man- 
aged to  get  some  rum.  I  knew  that  the  water 
tank  was  empty,  and  I  asked  one  of  the  black 
men  to  have  it  filled.  He  turned  to  another 
man  more  intoxicated  than  himself,  who  said 
in  a  maudlin  way:  "We  drink  rum;  we  don't 
drink  water."  I  said  nothing,  but  tried  an- 
other man,  who  finally  put  in  about  a  pailful. 
That  was  far  better  than  none  and  I  thanked 
the  Lord  for  it.     I  asked  the  captain  to  let 


92      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

me  get  a  box  that  had  food  in  it  from  the  hold, 
but  he  refused  to  open  it  up,  saying  I  could 
"go  to '' 

"Oh,  no,  thank  you ;"  I  replied ;  "I  am  going 
to  heaven." 

The  brains  of  the  crew  were  so  befuddled 
with  drink  that  instead  of  anchoring  for  the 
night  they  determined  to  sail  out  by  moon- 
rise.  They  said  that  through  me  they  had 
lost  so  much  time  that  they  must  now  make 
it  up!  We  had  not  sailed  more  than  half  an 
hour  before  the  boat  ran  into  a  sand-bank; 
and  I  praised  the  Lord,  for  I  felt  that  it  was 
a  deliverance  from  something  worse,  as  the 
crew  were  all  so  intoxicated. 

We  lay  quite  still  that  night,  and  the  next 
morning  many  Indians  came  with  ropes  in 
their  canoes  to  help  pull  the  launch  off  of  the 
bank.  But  in  order  to  get  the  boat  off  they 
had  to  lighten  it  by  opening  the  hold  and  tak- 
ing out  the  things,  and  in  this  way  I  was  able 
to  secure  one  of  my  boxes  that  had  food  in  it! 
I  slid  it  under  the  seat  and  covered  it  with  my 
dress.  When  we  were  off  the  bank  and  they 
were  refilling  the  hold,  I  opened  up  my  box 
and  had  a  good  meal  of  condensed  milk  and 


BACK  TO  COLON  93 

soda  crackers.  They  tasted  delicious,  and  I 
found  that  I  was  certainly  hungry.  But  the 
dear  Lord  had  kept  me  from  the  gnawings 
that  hunger  brings.  I  had  cocoa  also  in  the 
box,  and  I  asked  the  cook  to  let  me  have  some 
boiling  water,  but  he  refused  me.  I  did  not 
mind  very  much;  I  was  getting  used  to  being 
refused. 

We  went  on  our  journey  quickly  that  day, 
arriving  at  Port-o-Baldia  before  sunset,  and 
on  the  following  morning  leaving  there  on 
our  return  trip.  Four  passengers  for  Colon 
were  taken  on,  two  being  policemen  and  one 
a  prisoner.  Their  provisions  ran  short  and 
they  eyed  my  box  of  soda  crackers  and  wanted 
to  buy.  But  I  was  glad  to  heap  coals  of  fire 
on  their  heads,  and  it  was  a  real  delight  to  see 
the  change  that  came  over  many  of  them  when 
I  shared  the  crackers  and  gave  with  them  a 
message  of  love  for  Jesus'  sake. 

When  we  arrived  at  Rio  Diablo  the  padre 
who  had  sent  the  two  Indians  up  the  coast 
with  me  came  aboard  the  launch ;  he  was  go- 
ing to  Colon.  We  only  stayed  in  the  bay  a 
little  while,  and  I  sat  in  the  boat  and  looked 
at  the  two  houses  built  by  the  padres  and  the 


94      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Indians,  little  dreaming  that  in  both  of  them 
there  would  some  day  be  Bible  schools  and 
that  I  would  write  this  story  in  the  room  in 
one  of  the  houses  which  the  padre  used  for  his 
bedroom.  It  never  entered  my  thoughts  that 
the  houses  built  by  the  enemies  of  the  truth 
would  one  day  be  under  my  control  and  be 
used  for  spreading  God's  truth;  but  we  walk 
by  faith,  not  seeing  the  path  ahead  but  trust- 
ing all  to  our  Heavenly  Father.  I  did  have 
faith  that  I  should  come  back  there  again, 
but  God  in  bringing  me  back  has  done  the 
"exceeding  abundantly"  above  all  that  I  asked 
or  thought. 

We  had  not  sailed  more  than  three  hours, 
cramped  up  in  the  launch  so  closely  that  our 
knees  touched,  when  the  padre  spoke  to  me. 
I  had  been  sitting  all  this  time  with  my  Bible 
in  English  and  Spanish  open  on  my  lap,  and 
the  priest  could  not  help  seeing  it  and  reading 
it  if  he  cared  to. 

"Do  you  speak  Spanish?"  he  asked,  and  I 
replied  courteously:  "Yes,  sir,"  not  of  course 
using  the  title  "father." 

Then  he  opened  the  battery  of  his  abuse. 
He  said  that  I  was  no  good;  that  I  had  no 


BACK  TO  COLON  95 

faith,  no  religion ;  that  I  did  not  eat  the  body 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  so  I  had  no  life.  He  said 
that  I  had  no  business  to  come  up  to  the  In- 
dians ;  that  he  and  his  associates  had  come  to 
give  them  the  true  religion  and  that  I  must 
not  interfere.  He  was  so  excited,  so  angry 
evidently  to  find  me  alive  after  my  trip  up 
the  coast,  that  he  went  over  and  over  his  state- 
ments and  denunciations,  not  knowing  how  to 
stop. 

Finally  I  asked  the  priest  if  he  had  fin- 
ished ;  that  if  he  had  I  had  something  to  say ; 
and  then  I  lifted  up  my  heart  to  God  in  prayer 
to  help  me  to  speak  wisely,  to  wield  the  Sword 
of  the  Spirit  so  that  my  listener  might  feel 
its  power.  Holding  the  Book  out  toward  him, 
I  said:  "Sir,  I  come  to  these  Indians  to  teach 
them  to  read  God's  Word,  whose  entrance 
bringeth  light."  As  I  held  it  out  I  gripped 
it  tightly,  fearing  that  he  would  lift  his  hand 
to  throw  it  into  the  water.  He  did  throw  out 
his  hand  toward  it,  exclaiming  scornfully, 
"El  Protestante!" 

"Yes;"  I  said,  "this  Book  does  protest!  It 
protests  against  many  of  the  doctrines  of  your 
Church.     It  forbids  the  making  and  worship- 


96      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

ing  of  graven  images.  You  lift  up  the  Vir- 
gin, the  Pope,  scapulars,  rosaries,  holy  water 
and  a  wafer  god.  We  preach  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Saviour  of  the  whole  world.  Jesus  him- 
self said:  ^I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  Myself.'  He  did  not 
say  that  His  Mother  would  do  this,  or  Saint 
Peter  or  Saint  John.  They  are  dead,  but 
Jesus  is  alive  forevermore.  His  blood 
cleanseth  from  all  sin.  He  says:  *I  am  the 
way  and  the  truth  and  the  life :  no  one  cometh 
unto  the  Father  but  by  Me.' 

"Now,  sir,  if  you  would  read  God's  Word 
and  obey  it  you  would  have  this  life  in  you. 
You  say  that  I  do  not  eat  the  body  of  Jesus. 
It  is  true  that  I  do  not  put  a  wafer  in  my 
mouth,  nor  let  any  man  deceive  me  by  doing 
it,  and  then  call  that  a  god.  It  may  be  your 
god,  but  my  God  is  in  heaven,  and  by  faith 
in  the  atoning  blood  of  Jesus  shed  on  the  cross 
for  me  I  have  the  life  of  God  now  in  my  soul. 
And  this  news  is  too  good  to  keep  to  myself; 
I  have  for  years  been  telling  to  Englishmen, 
Spaniards  and  Indians  that  Jesus  only  can 
save.  No  Church,  no  creed,  no  ceremony, 
no  saint,  no  water,  no  wafer,  can  do  it;  it  is 


BACK  TO  COLON  97 

Jesus  only.  I  came  to  these  Indians  to  tell 
them  this,  and  you  have  done  your  Best  to 
prevent  me.  But,  sir,  mark  my  words,  be- 
cause I  believe  God  I  shall  be  back  here  again, 
with  this  Book,  to  teach  this  people.  I  shall 
be  in  and  you  will  be  out!"  Truly  this  was 
a  prophetic  utterance,  for  it  has  been  fulfilled 
to  the  letter,  with  more  added.  Now  I  am 
in  and  he  is  out. 

The  padre  squirmed  and  twisted,  but  there 
was  no  chance  to  get  away.  He  did  stand  up 
as  if  to  pass  me,  and  I  would  have  had  to  move 
sideways  in  order  to  let  him,  but  I  did  not;  I 
stood  up  too,  and  with  the  Word  of  God  open 
in  my  hand  I  quoted  passage  after  passage. 
I  felt  a  special  unction  in  my  soul;  this  was 
my  hour  to  glorify  God,  to  lift  up  Jesus  to  this 
man;  he  had  a  chance  to  receive  the  light  if 
he  would.  He  tried  to  get  by  me  to  go  to 
the  hold,  but  I  kept  on  quoting  Scripture  to 
him,  and  when  he  did  sidle  by  me  and  peer 
down  into  the  dark  hole  as  if  very  anxious 
about  his  luggage,  I  followed  and  talked 
earnestly.  My  soul  seemed  to  be  on  fire  for 
God,  and  I  gave  him  a  clear,  straight  exhor- 
tation; he  could  not  get  away  from  it.    I 


98      ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

heard  that  he  afterward  returned  to  Spain 
and  died  there.  God's  word  does  not  return 
to  Him  void,  so  that  the  seed  sown  on  that 
launch  may  have  borne  fruit  to  his  saving; 
I  do  not  know. 

I  told  the  padre  that  I  should  report  his 
treatment  of  me  to  the  President  of  Panama, 
and  I  did  when  I  reached  the  city,  and  had 
his  sympathy.  I  did  not  go  to  him  for  sym- 
pathy, however,  but  to  get  a  letter  as  an  offi- 
cial passport  which  would  let  me  go  into  any 
part  of  the  Republic  in  safety.  The  Presi- 
dent— who  is  now  dead — said  that  the  padre 
did  not  do  right  in  threatening  me  and  send- 
ing the  men  to  thwart  my  plans,  and  that  he 
would  be  glad  to  give  me  a  letter  of  com- 
mendation, but  that  I  needed  no  passport;  the 
Republic  was  free. 

"I  know  that,"  I  replied,  "but  some  other 
people  do  not  seem  to  know  the  rights  and 
privileges  that  belong  to  a  free  republic,  and 
I  want  a  letter  to  teach  them." 

He  smiled  and  said:  "Brave  little  woman  1 
But  why  do  you  want  to  go  among  the  In- 
dians? They  are  very  treacherous;  I  would 
not  go  up  there  for  anything." 


BACK  TO  COLON  99 

"I  want  to  go  and  tell  them  of  Jesus  who 
died  for  them,"  I  answered;  and  though  I 
had  told  him  the  whole  story  of  my  desire  to 
teach  the  Indians,  he  seemed  so  interested  that 
it  had  to  be  re-told.  Then  I  preached 
Jesus  to  him  and  told  him  how  God's  Word 
is  a  lamp  to  our  feet  and  a  light  to  our  path. 
"We  all  need  it.  You  need  it  as  President  in 
guiding  the  affairs  of  this  Republic.  God 
wants  to  save  you ;  if  you  read  His  Word  and 
obey  it  He  will  save  you  now." 

He  seemed  interested,  and  I  just  praised 
God  for  this  privilege  of  being  brought  be- 
fore rulers  for  the  truth's  sake.  He  told  me 
that  if  a  certain  official  would  write  such  a 
letter  as  I  wanted  he  would  sign  it,  and  I  was 
ushered  into  the  presence  of  one  of  Rome's 
emissaries,  I  felt  sure.  The  President  sent 
one  of  his  servants  to  tell  this  important  per- 
son my  errand,  so  I  was  invited  to  tell  him 
the  whole  story. 

"Do  you  not  know,"  he  said  as  I  finished, 
"that  the  education  of  Panama  is  under  the 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop?" 

"Oh,  then  I  see!"  This  was  an  explanation 
in  a  few  words  of  a  power  I  had  to  combat. 


loo    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

*Tes,  and  if  you  want  a  letter  you  must  go 
to  him." 

*^Indeed!  Then  Rome  has  its  foot  on  the 
neck  of  the  Panama  Republic  so  that  it  is  not 
free  after  all!" 

^'Religiously,  no.  The  religion  of  Panama 
is  Roman  Catholic." 

^Then  do  you  think  the  Bishop  would  give 
me  a  letter?" 

^^No." 

*Then  why  do  you  send  me  to  a  man  who 
you  know  will  refuse  my  request  when  it  is 
in  your  power  to  grant  it,  and  the  President 
said  that  he  would  indorse  the  letter  if  you 
wrote  it?" 

I  felt  that  it  was  a  plan  on  the  part  of  both 
to  put  me  off,  but  it  gave  me  an  opportunity 
to  speak  to  them  about  Jesus  and  to  magnify 
the  Word  of  God. 

"We  will  neither  help  you  nor  hinder  you 
officially,"  was  his  answer.  "If  you  want  to 
go  to  the  Indians  you  must  fight  your  way 
through." 

"Thank  you,  sir,  I  will,"  I  replied;  "but  I 
won't  carry  rifles  or  pistols,  but  the  Sword 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God." 


Chief  Robinson's  House,     Open  door  leads  to  store.     The    Ameri- 
can as  well  as  the    Panama   flag  forms  part  of  the  decoratioDS. 


The   "San  Bias"  — the  Panama  government  steamer  which  piys  up 
and  down   the  north  coast. 


BACK  TO  COLON  loi 

I  left  feeling  encouraged  in  God,  rejoicing 
that  I  had  unloaded  another  cargo  of  heavenly 
ammunition  for  Him. 

When  I  went  to  the  home  of  the  Methodist 
minister  who  had  given  me  the  directions  for 
my  journey  he  was  surprised  to  see  me.  He 
supposed  that  I  was  all  settled  down  in  my 
new  home,  and  was  planning  to  send  Philip 
back,  as  he  and  his  family  expected  to  return 
to  the  States  in  a  few  months.  I  told  him 
that  I  had  learned  some  very  valuable  lessons 
that  I  was  going  to  use  as  stepping-stones  to 
greater  victories  for  God.  He  did  not  think 
it  would  be  wise  or  worth  while  to  try  to  go 
back  while  ihat  priest  was  there  to  influence 
the  Indians,  but  I  assured  him  that  the  priest 
was  going  to  be  put  out  and  I  was  going  to 
have  the  privilege  of  going  in;  I  felt  that  God 
was  going  to  do  it. 

After  laboring  for  a  few  months  with  the 
Christian  Mission  (colored)  on  the  Isthmus, 
I  received  an  invitation  to  go  to  a  party  of 
missionaries  in  Mexico,  so  I  waited  on  the 
Lord  for  the  money  for  the  journey  if  He 
wanted  me  to  go.  I  did  not  give  up  hopes  of 
returning  to  San  Bias,  but  the  way  surely  was 


I02     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

not  open  at  present,  so  I  started  for  Mexico 
in  August,  191 1 ;  labored  there  four  months, 
and  then  went  on  to  California,  where  I  stayed 
two  months  with  friends  in  Los  Angeles,  in 
all  my  travels  never  once  mentioning  money 
to  any  one;  my  Father  supplied  every  need. 

While  in  the  home  of  two  young  mission- 
aries who  were  under  a  Board  I  learned  many 
valuable  lessons,  and  I  had  to  say  to  them: 
"Truly  the  way  of  faith  is  the  best."  Many 
times  when  things  ran  short  they  had  to  hope 
that  the  Board  would  send  their  money  on 
time  so  that  they  would  not  be  too  much  in- 
convenienced. They  wondered  how  I  got 
along,  not  being  under  a  Board.  "Oh,"  I 
said,  "I  am  not  under;  I  am  on  top,  for  *un- 
derneath  are  the  Everlasting  Arms.' " 

In  January,  191 2,  I  sailed  to  San  Francisco, 
God  providing  the  means  in  the  same  way 
that  he  had  done  for  years,  "according  to 
your  faith."  Faith  is  not  air;  I  did  not  walk 
on  air,  but  on  the  promises  of  God,  and  I  have 
not  yet  walked  to  the  end  of  any  one  of  them. 

I  visited  friends  and  cousins  in  different 
States,  speaking  in  many  churches  and  mis- 
sions of  God's  love  and  leading,  and  requesting 


BACK  TO  COLON  103 

prayers  of  faith  for  the  entrance  into  the  San 
Bias  territory  on  my  return  to  the  Isthmus. 
I  believed  that  God  wanted  me  there  and  that 
He  would  in  His  own  good  time  open  the  way. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AT  RIO  DIABLO 

1  STAYED  ten  months  in  the  States,  visit- 
ing Canada  by  way  of  the  wonderful  Ni- 
agara Fall?,  which  I  had  longed  to  see  from 
my  childhood  days.  Father  had  planned  to 
take  mother  and  me  to  see  them,  but  his  plans 
failed.  But  my  Heavenly  Father  often  gives 
me  the  desires  of  my  heart,  even  as  He  has 
promised  to  do  to  all  of  His  children  if  they 
delight  in  Him.  All  through  my  trip  I  met 
God's  chosen  ones,  had  my  faith  strengthened 
by  their  faith ;  and  the  change  of  air,  scenery 
and  food  all  helped  to  build  me  up,  so  that  I 
started  out  again  with  renewed  vigor. 

Again  I  sailed  by  the  West  Indian  passage, 
stopping  off  at  several  of  the  islands,  telling 
how  God  had  led  me  and  asking  all  the  rich 
in  faith  to  pray,  reminding  them  of  Jesus' 
words:     "All  things  whatsoever  ye  pray  and 

104 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  105 

ask  for,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye 
shall  have  them,'*  Mark  11:24. 

Sailing  for  the  Isthmus,  I  landed  in  Colon 
August  24th,  19 1 2,  having  been  away  just  two 
years,  during  all  of  which  time  I  had  not 
ceased  to  believe  that  a  door  would  be  opened 
to  the  Indians.  Remembering  the  two  islands 
at  the  mouth  of  Rio  Diablo,  where  I  had 
stopped  when  I  went  by  launch  to  Mona,  and 
the  wish  of  Joe  Harding,  the  chief  of  the 
smaller  island,  to  have  me  stay  there  and 
teach,  I  decided,  if  it  were  possible,  to  meet 
Charles  J.  Robinson,  Harding's  nephew,  who 
was  chief  of  the  other  island.  Knowing  that 
the  Indians  came  to  Colon  with  their  boat- 
loads of  cocoanuts,  I  went  to  the  wharf  where 
they  landed,  hoping  to  see  him  among  them. 
I  asked  every  Indian  that  I  saw  about  Chief 
Robinson,  but  many  understood  neither  Eng- 
lish nor  Spanish,  and  for  some  time  I  made 
no  headway.  But,  searching  in  this  way,  I 
made  the  acquaintance  of  an  Indian  who  had 
married  a  light-colored  negro  and  they  lived 
in  Colon.  He  could  speak  English  well,  and 
he  said  he  would  let  me  know  if  he  heard  that 
the  chief  was  coming  to  the  city. 


io6    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

While  I  was  waiting  for  news  I  gathered 
in  my  room  a  class  of  young  lads  who  wanted 
to  learn  English,  one  of  whom  could  speak  it 
very  well  and  acted  as  interpreter;  his  home 
was  only  six  miles  from  Chief  Robinson's 
island,  and  he  was  watching  for  the  chief.  I 
talked  of  Jesus,  and  the  young  man  said, 
"The  Indians  have  their  own  religion;  they 
do  not  want  to  learn  about  yours;  they  only 
want  you  to  teach  them  to  read  and  speak 
English  so  that  they  can  make  plenty  of  money 
like  the  Americans." 

"Is  that  so  indeed?"  I  replied.  "Well,  if 
they  will  listen  to  me  and  learn  about  Jesus, 
some  day  they  will  walk  on  golden  streets 
and  have  more  than  any  Americans  can  give 
them."  I  talked  earnestly  to  the  lads  every 
time  they  came;  that  was  my  business  for  my 
King. 

In  January,  1913,  I  was  told  that  Chief 
Robinson  would  be  in  on  the  17th,  so  in  the 
morning  I  was  down  at  the  wharf,  and  I  saw 
him  and  two  other  men  just  going  across  to 
the  Government  Building  to  get  a  pass  on  the 
railroad  to  visit  Panama  City.  My  heart 
beat  fast  for  joy;  this  was  my  hour!    Going 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  107 

up  to  the  leader,  for  they  walked  single  file, 
I  asked  if  he  were  Chief  Robinson  of  Rio 
Diablo. 

"Yes,  I  am." 

"Do  you  want  a  teacher  to  come  to  your 
island  and  teach  your  people  the  Bible  and 
English?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  I  do.  When  can  you  come?"  was  the 
prompt  reply. 

That  was  business  and  rejoiced  my  heart, 
and  I  answered :  "Now."  He  smiled  and  said 
that  would  be  all  right. 

"I  will  go  back  with  you  if  you  say  so," 
I  suggested,  anxious  to  seize  the  opportunity. 

"You  could  not  very  well,  for  my  canoe 
will  be  so  loaded,"  he  answered.  "You  had 
better  come  on  one  of  the  large  schooners." 

I  said  that  would  be  quite  satisfactory  to 
me,  and  we  talked  together  for  a  few  minutes. 
He  said  that  he  been  taken  by  the  captain  of 
one  of  the  trading  vessels  when  he  was  nine 
years  old  to  a  place  called  Old  Providence, 
near  Jamaica.  The  captain's  name  was  Rob- 
inson, so  he  named  the  boy  Charles  Julius 
Robinson.  He  sent  him  to  school  for  three 
years,  so  that  he  learned  to  read,  write  and 


io8    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

speak  English,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  he 
went  to  sea,  traveling  on  the  schooners  to  New 
York,  Nova  Scotia  and  other  places.  When 
about  twenty-five  he  returned  to  his  home, 
was  married,  settled  down,  and  was  soon 
afterward  appointed  second  chief,  then  chief 
at  the  death  of  the  old  chief,  Henry  Clay. 

During  the  reign  of  Chief  Clay  the  Roman 
Catholic  priest  came  and  somehow  got  in. 
Many  were  against  him,  but  Chief  Robinson 
was  one  who  was  in  favor  of  having  him  stay 
because  he  wanted  his  children  to  be  educated. 
The  people  helped  him  to  build  the  very 
house  that  I  now  occupy,  the  priest  supplying 
the  galvanized  iron  for  the  roof  and  sides  and 
the  Indians  cutting  down  trees  and  hauling 
most  of  the  wood,  each  helping  a  little  in  gifts 
and  in  free  labor. 

"We  are  sorry  that  we  ever  let  the  priest  in, 
however,"  said  the  chief.  "Our  children 
have  not  learned  anything  but  to  chant  to 
images,  saints  and  the  Virgin.  I  was  taught 
to  read  the  Bible  and  I  want  my  children  to 
learn  to  read  it.  I  am  glad  that  you  will 
come." 

We  parted  then  and  I  went  to  my  room  to 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  109 

begin  packing,  my  heart  singing  for  joy.  One 
morning  a  week  later  I  was  awakened  early 
by  a  knock,  and  on  opening  the  door  I  saw 
three  Indians,  one  of  whom  pushed  an  en- 
velope into  my  hand.     I  opened  it  and  read: 

San  Jose  Nargana,  Feb.  2nd,  19 13. 
Dear  lady  I  sent  my  3  Indians  to  Bring  you  up 
to  San  Bias  Coas  to  my  country  My  people  like 
to  see  you  Dear  lady  if  you  can  By  A  B  C  Book 
Engles  and  Bring  your  Piano  up  with  you  no 
more  for  Present.     Mr.  Charles  J.  Robinson. 

How  much  that  letter  meant  to  me!  and 
here  were  the  three  living  red  Indians  waiting 
for  me  to  speak  the  word!  Had  not  our  God 
answered  prayer? 

I  hastily  strapped  and  roped  things  with  the 
aid  of  the  Indians,  then  to  the  canoe  we  went. 
It  was  the  largest  canoe  the  chief  had,  but 
was  very  small  for  us  to  weather  heavy  seas 
in,  and  I  had  heard  much  about  the  roughness 
of  the  sea  at  this  season.  But  I  believed  that 
God  would  overrule  the  sea  and  everything 
else.  However,  my  friend  in  Colon  came 
down  to  the  wharf  just  as  we  started  out  and 
called  to  the  men  not  to  take  me,  the  wind 


no    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

was  so  changeable.  So  we  put  back  to  shore 
and  the  men  put  off  one  of  my  trunks,  a  deck 
chair  and  a  box  of  canned  foods,  then  they 
went  on.  I  waited  two  weeks  and  then  se- 
cured passage  on  the  two-masted  schooner  the 
^^\gnes  E." 

We  were  nine  days  getting  from  Colon  to 
the  first  group  of  the  San  Bias  Islands,  and  as 
the  captain  had  business  to  attend  to  of  course 
I  had  to  wait  until  it  was  finished.  But  I  was 
quite  comfortable  and  simply  felt  that  I  could 
rest  for  a  little.  We  were  now  about  fifteen 
miles  from  Rio  Diablo.  During  the  day  the 
Indians  came  aboard,  and  I  opened  my  ^'pi- 
ano"— the  folding  baby  organ — and  played. 
The  captain  and  crew  who  could  speak  Eng- 
lish sang  the  Moody  and  Sankey  hymns  and 
we  spent  a  pleasant  time.  But  the  news 
spread  that  a  white  woman  was  on  board  who 
was  going  to  Chief  Robinson's  island,  and 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  tenth  day  out  we 
were  awakened  by  the  splash  of  oars  and  a 
voice  calling:  *^Ai  es  the  Missi  ar?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered  in  Spanish;  "I  am  here," 
for  I  was  quite  sure  that  I  was  the  Missi  who 
was  meant.     One  of  the  men  could  speak  Eng- 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  in 

lish  (I  have  since  found  that  he  was  one  of  the 
two  who  dragged  me  off  from  Mona  Island), 
and  he  said,  "Chief  Robinson  sent  us  for  you; 
come  now,"  so  I  just  stepped  off  of  the 
schooner  into  the  canoe  and  we  were  off  like 
a  shot.  A  few  hours'  sailing  and  we  landed 
safely  at  home! 

Of  course  the  whole  village  was  out,  and  I 
was  graciously  received  by  the  chief  and  his 
brother  Alfred,  who  also  could  speak  Eng- 
lish. I  sat  in  the  store,  for,  by  the  way,  Chief 
Robinson  had  and  still  has  quite  a  grocery  and 
dry-goods  store,  and  for  two  hours  was,  I 
might  say,  on  exhibition.  The  chief  had  an 
old  iron  stove  in  which  he  burned  logs  when 
he  wanted  to  cook  after  the  white  man's  style, 
and  here  my  dinner  was  prepared,  or  rather 
my  breakfast,  for  although  it  was  now  after- 
noon I  had  not  eaten.  But  then  I  must  suffer 
some  inconveniences,  even  as  these  people  were 
doing  to  have  me  there  in  their  home.  After 
a  meal  of  something  fried  in  grease  and  soup 
of  some  kind,  and  some  eggs  fried  till  they 
resembled  sole  leather,  and  some  kind  of 
black  liquid  to  drink,  all  of  which  I  took, 
"asking  no  questions  for  conscience'  sake,"  I 


112    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

felt  better  able  to  walk,  as  I  was  expected  to 
do  after  that  feast,  to  see  the  sights  of  the 
town.  Then  I  was  taken  to  my  new  home,  a 
native  house  with  palm-leaf  roof  and  bamboo 
walls.  The  chief  had  said  to  me,  ^We  have 
no  house  for  you  to  live  in,"  and  I  had  an- 
swered, "Oh,  the  same  kind  of  house  that  the 
natives  live  in  will  do  for  me." 

So  this  was  my  home!  One  corner  was  ar- 
ranged for  my  sleeping  room,  and  there  the 
Indians  hung  my  hammock.  They  cooked 
for  me  until  the  schooner  came  up  four  days 
after  bringing  my  household  effects. 

I  arrived  on  the  island  on  Friday,  Febru- 
ary 28th,  and  started  school  the  next  morning. 
Before  sunrise  I  was  awakened  by  voices  call- 
ing my  name.  Here  were  my  scholars  ready 
for  school!  so  we  began  at  once  and  continued 
for  eight  hours ;  then  the  chief  said  that  they 
wanted  night  school,  so  for  another  four  hours 
we  recited  and  sang  A,  B,  C,  and  went  through 
all  kinds  of  exercises,  until  I  dreamed  of  hands 
and  feet  and  faces  all  mixed  up  with  letters 
and  red  Indians. 

The  next  day  being  Sunday,  I  taught  them 
John  3: 16.    That,  and:  '^Onward,  Christian 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  113 

Soldiers,"  was  the  order  of  exercises  that  first 
Sunday  in  San  Bias.  We  marched  and  coun- 
termarched around  the  schoolroom;  the 
earthen  floor  was  humpy,  but  it  did  not  mat- 
ter 1  My  school  was  composed  of  all  ages. 
There  were  tottering  old  men ;  Olibebeah,  the 
chief's  grandfather,  was  said  to  be  over  a  hun- 
dred; and  wrinkled  grandmothers,  and  mid- 
dle aged  and  young  married  women  also,  each 
with  a  child  straddled  on  her  hip.  Logs 
were  brought  in,  and  they  sat  on  these  when 
they  were  not  marching;  but  I  kept  them 
pretty  lively,  and  they  were  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion. Shirtless  boys  came  in  to  march;  we 
had  great  times  in  those  early  days!  A  par- 
rot came  every  day  and  learned  to  sing,  "On- 
ward, Christian  Soldiers."  After  he  had 
sung  he  would  laugh  at  his  own  smartness, 
and  of  course  we  laughed  too.  I  used  him  to 
spur  the  boys  on  by  saying,  "Dear  me,  the  par- 
rot has  beaten  all  of  you!" 

The  chief  came  to  the  school  every  day 
to  tell  the  scholars  what  I  wanted  them  to  do, 
and  I  learned  a  few  Indian  words  so  that  I 
could  make  them  understand  some  things, 
and  so  for  three  months  we  had  school  three 


114    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

times  a  day  seven  days  in  the  week.  On  Sun- 
day night  it  was  different.  Then  I  had  the 
chief  interpret  the  stories  in  the  Gospels  of 
Jesus  and  His  love,  and  the  people  learned 
many  hymns.  The  organ  was  a  great  attrac- 
tion. I  only  played  it  on  Sunday  nights, 
partly  to  help  make  the  service  interesting, 
and  partly  because  when  I  was  teaching  there 
was  no  room  to  move  my  arms,  the  space  was 
so  limited. 

During  the  first  three  months  of  my  stay 
the  house  which  the  priests  had  formerly  used 
was  occupied  by  a  man  whom  they  call  a 
Christian  Brother,  not  a  priest,  but  a  mem- 
ber of  one  of  their  orders  who  teaches.  He 
had  a  few  boys  every  day,  but  as  my  school 
grew  in  popularity  his  twelve  boys  left  and 
came  to  me,  and  before  long  the  Brother  left 
the  island. 

In  June  I  went  down  to  Colon  on  a  new 
gasoline  launch  that  had  just  begun  to  run  up 
this  coast  The  captain  very  kindly  oflfered 
to  take  me  down  and  bring  me  back  in  ten 
days,  and  this  was  too  good  an  offer  to  be  re- 
fused. The  chief  asked  me  to  take  his  eldest 
boy,  Charles,  who  was  about  seven  years  old. 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  115 

with  me,  that  he  might  see  the  city  and  hear 
English  spoken  all  the  time.  I  bought  many 
things  for  school  use  and  also  a  new  three- 
burner  oil-stove  with  an  oven. 

This  oil-stove  created  a  sensation  on  the 
island.  Again  and  again  I  had  to  demon- 
strate the  lighting  of  that  wonderful  fire-box. 
Chiefs  and  their  body-guards  came  from  far 
and  near  to  see  the  stove — and  the  lady  who 
owned  it,  perhaps! — to  hear  the  children  sing 
in  English,  and  to  listen  to  the  organ.  If  I 
had  had  a  moving  picture  machine  I  certainly 
could  have  gotten  some  interesting  scenes. 

In  a  couple  of  weeks  the  chief  had  sent  for 
an  oil-stove  just  like  mine.  He  told  me  that 
all  the  women  said  the  evil  was  in  it.  They 
were  afraid  of  it  and  preferred  to  sit  on  one 
end  of  a  log  while  the  other  end  cooked  the 
fish,  regardless  of  the  smoke  and  dirt.  All 
my  dishes,  forks  especially,  were  carefully  ex- 
amined ;  they  wondered  what  a  fork  could  be 
for.  When  I  was  cooking  they  would  come 
in  and  smell  around  the  pan,  and  if  it  was  so 
that  they  could  dip  a  finger  into  the  concoc- 
tion they  would  do  so,  and  in  every  case  they 
were  disgusted  with  the  white  woman's  food. 


ii6    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Two  months  after  the  Roman  Catholic 
teacher  had  left,  as  the  house  was  standing 
empty,  the  chief  said  that  they  would  pull  it 
down.  I  went  in  to  look  it  over.  It  was  a 
large  building  about  twenty-five  feet  by 
thirty.  There  were  three  rooms  downstairs 
and  five  rooms  above.  The  largest  room 
downstairs  had  been  used  for  religious  serv- 
ices only;  its  walls  were  hung  with  pictures 
of  saints  and  the  Virgin,  and  there  were 
wooden  statues.  The  confessional  box  was 
there,  which  I  have  found  very  useful  as  a 
library,  and  the  baptismal  font. 

About  this  time  a  Panamanian  official  came 
up  to  see  my  school,  and  was  so  well  pleased 
with  it  that  he  advised  me  to  leave  the  grass 
hut  and  go  into  the  large  house.  I  told  him 
that  the  priests  had  built  it  and  I  wanted  no 
trouble  with  them  by  occupying  their  prop- 
erty. He  said  that  it  would  be  all  right;  that 
they  would  not  return,  and  that  it  would  be 
better  for  me  to  go  into  it  at  once,  adding: 
*^This  house  is  no  fit  place  for  a  woman.''  I 
told  him  that  I  was  very  happy  and  felt  that 
God  who  led  me  here  was  keeping  watch  over 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  117 

me  continually,  and  to  have  His  approval  sat- 
isfied me;  that  I  was  never  lonely  or  afraid. 

When  the  rainy  season  was  on,  which  lasts 
from  May  to  the  first  week  in  November, 
there  certainly  was  much  to  be  desired  in  the 
way  of  comfort  in  my  grass  house.  Often  my 
floor  was  in  such  pools  that  I  had  to  wear  my 
rubbers  all  day,  but  I  hoped  for  better  things 
when  the  dry  season  came,  and  endured  the 
discomfort.  But  one  morning  in  August 
when  my  floor  seemed  nothing  but  one  great 
puddle,  I  decided  that  perhaps  it  would  be 
wiser  for  me  to  move  into  the  house.  The 
Indians  had  not  torn  it  down,  so  I  told  the 
chief  that  I  wanted  them  to  open  it  up,  clean 
it  and  make  it  ready  for  me.  They  went  to 
work  at  once,  and  the  next  day,  Saturday,  I 
was  moving  into  my  upstairs  tenement. 
Wasn't  it  fine!  I  had  doors  that  I  could 
shut  and  thus  have  a  little  privacy;  I  had  a 
good  board  floor  to  walk  on  upstairs  and  a 
smooth  cement  one  downstairs.  There  were 
three  long  desks  that  would  seat  six  at  a  pinch, 
and  the  men  made  me  three  more;  so  with 
six  benches  our  room  was  soon  looking  like  a 


ii8     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

real  schoolroom.  I  took  down  the  pictures 
of  the  saints  and  other  paraphernalia  of  my 
predecessors  and  put  up  pictures  of  flowers, 
birds  and  animals  that  I  cut  from  the  maga- 
zines and  pasted  on  white  paper,  and  we  ail 
felt  proud  of  our  new  quarters. 

I  kept  one  of  the  images  to  use  as  an  object 
lesson,  and  when  the  boys  recited  the  115th 
Psalm  I  touched  each  part  of  the  image  as 
they  recited:  ^They  have  mouths,  but  they 
speak  not;  eyes  have  they,  but  they  see  not," 
etc.,  and  questioned  them  about  it.  When 
we  had  finished  I  laid  the  image  down  and 
stepped  on  it,  asking:  ^^Can  it  feel,  can  it  help 
us,  can  it  hurt  me,  can  it  get  up?"  One  of 
the  boys,  who  was  very  bright  and  could  speak 
Spanish  well,  and  had  lived  with  the  priests 
as  their  errand  boy,  said:  "Miss  Coope,  I  knelt 
before  that  wooden  man  sometimes  two  hours 
at  a  time,  and  kissed  it,  and  always  bowed  my 
knee  when  I  passed  it.  But  I  see  now  that 
it  cannot  help  us.  I  will  never  worship  an 
image  again." 

I  can  only  pray  that  Joe  may  be  kept  in  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  that  the  word  may 
prove  a  savior  of  life  unto  life  in  his  case. 


AT  RIO  DIABLO  119 

He  was  the  son  of  the  chief  of  Mona  Island 
from  which  I  had  been  ejected,  and  had  been 
sent  to  school  on  this  island,  living  with  Chief 
Robinson.  But  even  before  the  Catholic 
Brother  left  he  had  come  to  my  school,  and 
for  a  year  he  was  with  me,  professing  to  ac- 
cept Jesus  as  his  Saviour.  He  learned  to 
speak  Spanish  well,  and  when  the  Spanish 
official  who  told  me  to  go  into  the  big  house 
saw  him  he  took  a  great  fancy  to  him  and 
took  him  to  Panama  City,  where  he  is  putting 
him  through  school. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS 

ONE  of  the  great  hindrances  to  the  recep- 
tion of  Christ  and  the  uplift  of  the  In- 
dians on  the  island  was,  as  it  is  everywhere, 
liquor.  There  were  ten  rum-shops  for  a  pop- 
ulation of  800.  They  had  bottles  of  Balboa 
beer  on  their  shelves,  and  they  built  a  special 
cubby-hole  of  wood  with  a  thatched  roof 
which  was  set  apart  as  a  shop,  and  this  was 
owned  by  the  chief,  or,  as  he  said,  by  his 
brother.  The  traders  brought  up  demijohns 
of  rum,  so  they  all  '^sold  this,  the  "Chriss- 
tians' "  liquor — the  captains  and  sailors  all 
called  themselves  *^Chriss-tians"  when  talking 
to  the  Indians — and  they  had  their  own  home- 
made rum;  so  liquor  was  plentiful,  and  every 
week  during  the  first  year  that  I  was  there 
they  had  what  is  called  a  "chee-chee,"  which 
really  is  a  drunken  spree  over  a  girl's  coming 

to  maturity.    It  was  the  woman's  day.    The 

120 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     121 

girl  was  bathed  three  times  a  day  for  four 
days  by  the  women,  and  during  that  time  the 
father  was  in  the  woods  shooting  game  of  any 
kind  and  up  the  river  catching  fish,  and  the 
mother  was  cooking  on  a  large  scale  and  mak- 
ing the  rum,  which  was  put  into  large  earthen 
jars. 

When  all  was  ready  they  fired  a  gun  to 
notify  all  to  come,  for  the  feast  was  to  begin. 
The  girl  passed  around  to  the  guests  portions 
of  meat,  fish,  vegetables  and  other  things,  and 
they  in  turn  presented  her  with  rings,  beads, 
and  cloth.  Then  they  drank  and  sang.  They 
have  a  special  song,  and  if  the  singer  does  not 
finish  it  in  two  days  the  feast  must  go  on,  and 
of  course  he  does  not  finish  until  he  sees  that 
there  is  no  more  rum.  Sometimes  the  feast 
has  gone  on  for  five  days,  and  I  cannot  de- 
scribe the  howling  and  yelling;  it  is  hell  let 
loose  1  All  the  men  are  drunk,  and  all  the 
women,  especially  those  of  the  girPs  family, 
screaming  night  and  day.  The  men  walk  the 
streets  with  bottles  under  their  arms,  asking 
every  one  they  meet  to  drink  with  them.  The 
"babblings,  the  wounds  without  a  cause,"  the 
bloodshed  were  terrible  1    One  morning  when 


122     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

I  went  to  the  door  of  my  grass  hut  there  were 
great  spots  of  blood  before  the  door.  The 
boys  said:  ''Men  fight— drunk!"  The  chief 
came  by  and  told  me  not  to  come  out;  it  would 
not  be  safe.  He  was  sober,  and  sober  in  more 
ways  than  one.  He  was  acting  as  policeman, 
for  all  his  four  policemen  were  drunk.  There 
was  a  big  fight  on,  and  he  had  tied  them  all 
to  a  post  and  was  walking  around  my  house  to 
guard  me. 

After  that  terrible  spree  was  over — it  lasted 
from  one  Sunday  morning  till  the  following 
Sunday — the  chief  came  to  me  and  said :  "This 
is  too  much!"  He  felt  ashamed  to  have  me, 
the  first  foreign  woman  that  had  ever  lived 
on  their  island,  see  how  beastly  they  were. 
When  I  had  talked  to  him  of  Jesus  as  a  per- 
sonal Saviour,  he  would  say,  "I  am  not  a  sin- 
ner; I  believe  in  Jesus;  I  am  all  right,"  and 
yet  he  kept  a  rum-shop  and  allowed  their 
sprees  to  go  on. 

But  matters  had  reached  a  climax  now. 
When  the  people  had  sobered  up  he  called  a 
meeting  and  told  them  that  this  thing  must 
stop.  Many  were  up  in  arms  against  him. 
They  said  it  was  their  custom  and  they  could 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     123 

not  and  would  not  stop;  the  *'white  devir' 
must  leave ;  it  was  she  who  had  put  the  chief 
up  to  this  move;  he  had  never  stopped  them 
before  she  came. 

As  a  result  of  the  chief's  stand  the  women 
refused  to  come  to  school ;  not  a  girl  came  for 
several  weeks.  But  the  boys  all  rallied 
around  the  chief  and  said:  ^'Miss  Coope  is 
good;  she  not  drink  rum  and  fight;  we 
ashamed  of  our  mothers."  I  told  the  chief 
that  he  ought  to  accept  Jesus  as  his  Saviour 
if  he  wanted  to  help  his  people;  that  Jesus 
would  guide  him  by  his  Holy  Spirit  in  this 
fight  for  the  right;  that  his  idea  was  to  stop 
these  drunken  bouts,  but  he  kept  his  own  rum- 
shop  and  so  how  was  he  better  than  his  peo- 
ple? When  I  spoke  of  that  he  said  that  the 
cubby-hole  was  his  brother's. 

"But  you  sit  there  and  drink  and  smoke 
with  the  rest,"  I  said ;  "so  they  think  if  drink- 
ing is  right  for  you  it  is  right  for  them.  You 
can't  tell  them  to  stop  drinking  rum  while 
you  go  on  drinking,  selling  and  encouraging 
your  brother  to  take  their  cocoanuts  for  your 
liquor." 

Chief  Robinson  talked  with  his  brother, 


124    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

who  was  so  vexed  that  he  took  his  wife  and 
daughter  and  left  the  island  for  a  long  visit 
to  his  wife's  brother  on  another  island.  In 
the  meantime  the  chief  tore  down  the  cubby- 
hole and  gave  orders  that  all  others  should  do 
the  same.  If  they  wanted  to  drink  they  must 
go  somewhere  else  to  do  it ;  he  wouldn't  allow 
it  here.  So  when  a  girl  was  to  have  her 
"coming-out''  feast,  as  we  may  term  it,  for 
she  is  then  brought  before  the  public  as  of 
marriageable  age,  they  took  her  to  another 
island  for  the  festivities.  For  a  few  months 
after,  if  they  could  only  afford  one  or  two 
days'  feasting,  they  would  beg  the  chief  to  let 
them  have  "a  little  drunk" ;  they  would  be  so 
good  if  he  would  let  them  have  just  a  little 
one !  and  he  did,  so  that  for  a  year  and  a  half 
or  more  we  had  the  "chee-chees"  at  intervals, 
but  never  so  bad  as  that  one  terrible  one  and 
the  others  previous  to  it. 

The  other  island,  which  was  so  near  to  us 
that  we  could  halloo  to  each  other,  still  kept 
up  the  feasts,  and  many  from  our  side  went 
over  there.  The  chief,  Joe  Harding,  of 
whom  I  have  spoken,  was  an  old  man.  He 
said  that  his  nephew,  Chief  Robinson,  was  do- 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     125 

ing  wrong;  that  all  the  Indians  got  drunk  at 
such  times,  and  God  made  the  rum;  the  cap- 
tains, the  Chriss-tian  captains,  had  told  him 
so;  and  if  the  men  wanted  to  drink  he'd  let 
them.  I  used  to  go  and  visit  him  and  talk  to 
him  of  Christ.  He  was  ill  all  the  time ;  had 
one  foot  in  the  grave.  He  wanted  me  to  come 
and  live  on  his  island ;  then,  he  said,  his  peo- 
ple would  be  good  like  Charley's. 

"I  can't  very  well  teach  two  schools  at 
once,"  I  told  him;  "but  as  you  and  your  peo- 
ple visit  us  and  I  visit  you  and  tell  you  just 
what  I  tell  my  people,  why  won't  you  ask 
God  to  forgive  your  sins,  make  your  heart 
good,  and  teach  your  people  by  His  Holy 
Spirit?" 

"I  do,"  he  answered. 

When  I  had  been  teaching  a  little  over  a 
year  a  lady  came  out  to  me  from  my  own 
church  in  Providence,  R.  I.  I  had  often 
written  letters  to  our  church,  and  she  had 
heard  one;  her  heart  was  touched  by  God's 
voice,  and  she  came.  I  told  the  chief  on  the 
other  island  that  this  lady  would  come  over 
to  his  side  and  teach,  but  he  shook  his  head, 
saying  that  the  priest  was  coming  back  and 


126     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

he  couldn't  let  her  come;  he  would  let  me 
come,  but  nobody  else.  My  chief  said  that 
his  uncle  was  ^^a  terrible  liar." 

Finally,  about  five  months  after  my  friend 
came,  a  priest  did  visit  our  island;  he  spoke 
to  me  in  Spanish.  He  smelled  so  of  beer  that 
the  boys  held  their  noses.  I  said:  *^Do  you 
want  that  man  to  teach  you?"  and  the  answer 
in  chorus  was:  ^'No,  no!"  Whether  he  was 
one  of  the  many  who  had  visited  these  islands 
before,  I  do  not  know.  He  went  into  what 
was  once  their  chapel,  but  it  was  greatly 
changed  in  appearance;  "the  gods  had  come 
down."  He  asked  if  I  taught  school,  and 
when  I  said:  "Yes,  sir,"  he  looked  at  me 
blackly  and  went  hastily  out,  leaving  the 
fumes  of  his  beer  and  cigarettes  behind  him. 
He  went  over  to  the  other  island  where  he 
would  find  "no  Protestants,"  and  looked  into 
the  empty  building  with  its  walls  covered 
with  pictures  and  images.  It  was  the  hiding- 
place  of  bats,  lizards  and  all  kinds  of  creep- 
ers. The  chief  was  flattered  by  the  bottle 
fumes  and  the  cigarette,  and  soon  spread  the 
news  which  was  received  with  expressions  of 
delight,  that  the  "padre"  was  going  to  open  a 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     127 

school.  He  was  a  fine  man,  he  said,  and  he 
was  going  to  give  him  money. 

When  I  heard  that  news  I  said  to  my  friend : 
^'Let  us  pray  over  this  matter.  I  feel  that  we 
must  do  something  unusual.  If  we  expect 
God  to  do  unusual  things  we  must  fall  into 
line."  After  we  had  poured  out  our  hearts 
before  God  I  rose  from  my  knees  with  a  de- 
termination to  conquer.  I  said:  *^Come,  we 
will  close  our  school  and  go  over  and  talk 
with  old  Joe  and  find  out  if  these  reports  are 
true." 

We  went,  and  found  old  Joe  lying  in  his 
hammock  smoking;  the  priest  had  left  for 
Port-o-Baldia  after  staying  only  a  few  hours. 
I  asked  if  what  I  had  heard  was  true,  and  he 
said  yes,  the  padre  had  said  that  he  would 
open  the  school  again  when  he  came  back. 

"See  here,  Joe,"  I  said;  "you  have  been  ask- 
ing me  to  come  here  for  over  a  year.  Now 
I  have  an  assistant  who  would  have  been  here 
five  months  ago  if  you  had  said  the  word." 

"I  want  you,"  was  his  reply. 

"All  right;  do  you  want  me  now?" 

"Well,  wait  till  the  padre  comes  back;  I'll 
talk  to  him." 


128    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

"Do  you  want  me  now!" 

He  wavered  and  I  saw  my  chance.  I  said: 
"I  am  coming  over  to-day  to  open  up  the 
house."     That  night  we  slept  there. 

While  I  was  talking  with  the  chief,  two 
young  men  who  had  been  coming  to  my  night 
school  said :  *^Yes,  we  want  Miss  Coope,"  and 
their  word  seemed  to  have  a  good  deal  of  in- 
fluence with  the  old  man.  He  called  in  the 
second  chief  and  they  had  a  smoking  consul- 
tation. While  that  was  going  on  I  mar- 
shaled my  forces,  sending  every  canoe  that 
I  could  get  over  to  bring  the  things  that  we 
needed  for  the  house. 

The  next  morning  early  we  two  started  the 
school.  I  told  Chief  Robinson  that  I'd  give 
my  school  a  vacation,  and  many  came  over  to 
the  other  island  to  see  the  starting  of  another 
Bible  school.  We  held  the  fort  until  the 
priest  passed  back  to  Colon,  chagrined,  out- 
witted by  a  woman.  I  stayed  a  week,  work- 
ing hard  with  the  children  and  helped  by  sev- 
eral of  the  big  boys  who  had  been  in  my  other 
school.  The  chief  was  delighted  to  see  all 
his  children  so  enthused,  and  feeling  that  the 
crisis  was  past  I  returned  to  my  island,  while 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     129 

the  sister  remained  to  carry  on  the  work  and 
is  there  to-day.  I  went  over  every  week  to 
hold  gospel  services  until  the  old  chief  died. 
The  new  chief,  who  can  speak  a  little  Eng- 
lish, is  a  very  different  character,  truthful,  in- 
dustrious and  kindly  disposed,  so  that  we  have 
had  no  trouble  under  him.  The  population 
is  about  400;  the  school  registers  50,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  40  daily.  My  school 
registers  107,  with  an  average  attendance  of 
90  and  many  of  kindergarten  age  who  come 
because  big  sister  comes.  The  "big"  sisters, 
from  six  to  eight  years  of  age,  carry  the  littler 
ones  on  their  hips  so  much  that  it  is  no  won- 
der the  two-to-five-year  olds  expect  to  be  car- 
ried back  and  forth  to  school,  so  I  have  over 
120  at  times.  The  girls  were  very  backward 
for  over  a  year,  but  have  begun  to  speed  up, 
and  many  are  gaining  on  the  boys,  who  at 
first  did  very  well,  but  owing  to  sickness  and 
having  to  work  have  fallen  behind  some. 

One  day  while  I  was  living  in  the  grass  hut 
two  men  walked  in.  There  was  nothing  un- 
usual in  that;  I  received  callers  at  all  times.  I 
shook  hands  with  the  first  one  who  came  to- 
ward me,  saying:  "New-a-dee?"  which  is  the 


I30    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Indian  "How  do  you  do?"  As  I  put  out  my 
hand  to  the  second  one  he  held  it  and  looked 
me  straight  in  the  eye,  saying  in  good  English, 
"Don't  you  know  me?  I  am  John  Davis." 
So  he  was,  but  I  did  not  recognize  him.  How 
glad  I  was  to  see  the  dear  old  man!  His 
companion  was  the  chief  of  Mona  Island  and 
the  father  of  our  little  Joe,  who  had  been  in 
school  about  two  weeks.  So  here  were  the 
two  chiefs  who  had  wanted  me  two  years  and 
a  half  ago,  and  had  seen  me  dragged  out  by 
two  men  who  came  from  this  very  island 
where  I  was  now  teaching!  Both  John 
Davis,  the  ex-chief,  and  the  chief  himself  had 
a  boy  in  school,  and  the  children  of  the  men 
who  dragged  me  from  Mona  were  in  my 
school  also.  Here  we  all  were  together  again, 
but  under  such  different  circumstances! 
How  marvelous  are  God's  ways,  truly  past 
finding  out! 

John  had  aged  greatly;  his  hair  was  now 
almost  white,  and  he  said  he  suffered  greatly 
from  a  cough  which  seemed  to  tear  him  to 
pieces,  that  he  had  rheumatism,  and  that  he 
was  poor.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him,  urg- 
ing him  to  accept  Jesus  now.     He  prayed 


HINDRANCES  AND  PROGRESS     131 

and  said  that  he  believed  and  asked  me  when 
I  could  come  to  his  island,  but  I  could  not 
give  him  any  promise,  as  I  was  so  busy  right 
here  on  these  two  islands. 

Both  of  the  men  said  that  they  were  sorry 
they  had  not  let  me  stay  on  Mona,  and  asked 
me  to  write  to  America  for  another  lady  to 
come  out  to  them.  Before  they  finished  their 
two  days'  visit  to  our  chief  I  did  write  a  let- 
ter to  the  church  at  home  telling  them  of 
John's  request  and  his  earnestness  and  asking 
them  to  pray  for  him  and  also  that  some  one 
would  be  led  of  God  to  volunteer  for  this 
work,  walking  by  faith.  The  letter  stirred 
several  in  the  church,  but  only  one  was  led 
to  step  out  definitely.  She  came  after  months 
of  waiting  on  God  to  be  sure  that  He  wanted 
her;  but  in  the  meantime  John  Davis  died, 
and  his  son  Philip  came  to  tell  me  that  he 
would  have  to  go  home,  for  he  was  the  only 
man  in  the  house  and  would  have  to  go  to 
work.  I  trust  I  shall  meet  John  Davis  in 
glory.  The  chief  of  Mona  often  visited  the 
school,  was  delighted  to  hear  that  his  boy  was 
so  smart,  and  wanted  me  to  send  him  to  the 
United  States  for  further  education. 


CHAPTER  X 

SOME  OF  MY  BOYS 

ON  May  31st,  1914,  three  of  my  boys  ac- 
cepted Jesus  in  the  Sunday-school. 
One  was  little  Joe  Harris,  the  son  of  the  chief 
of  Tupeelee;  the  second  was  Lonnie  Powers, 
about  twelve  years  old ;  and  the  third  Andrew 
Ferguson,  who  is,  I  think,  about  sixteen  or 
serenteen.  That  Sunday  as  we  read  in  the 
New  Testament  class  of  boys  of  Jesus'  com- 
mand: "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation,"  I  explained 
what  it  meant,  telling  them  as  simply  as  I 
could  the  love  story  of  Jesus;  that  when  we 
believe  in  Him  with  all  our  hearts  we  want 
to  tell  some  one  else;  that  it  was  He  who  had 
sent  me  to  tell  the  San  Bias  Indians  about  Him 
and  His  love  for  them.  "Now  you  can  read 
it  for  yourselves.  If  you  will  believe,  God 
will  save  you  and  then  send  you  to  others;" 
I  said.    Little  Joe's  eyes  were  full  of  tears. 

132 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  133 

I  drew  in  the  net.  *Who  of  you  will  take 
Jesus  now  for  your  Saviour,  to  save  you  from 
sin  and  fill  your  heart  with  His  love  and  the 
Holy  Spirit?'' 

"I  will  believe  in  Jesus  now!"  Joe  said,  and 
struck  his  chest  with  such  earnestness  that 
we  all  looked  at  him.  His  face  was  eager, 
his  body  trembled. 

"Let  us  all  pray  now,"  I  said,  for  every  boy 
in  the  class  was  deeply  moved,  and  each  one 
prayed. 

"Jesus,  make  me  thy  child — good  now — so 
I  preach,"  was  one  prayer  made  brokenly. 
Another  prayed:  "Good  Jesus,  I  want  good 
preach.  I  love  preach  good.  Amen."  A 
third:  "I  believe  you  Jesus  me  for  died. 
Make  heart  good.  Amen."  One  boy  said: 
"Jesus,  make  Indian  good  heart  now,  my 
good.  Amen."  Joe  said,  "Jesus,  I  believe 
you  died  for  me.  Make  me  good  now;  I  lore 
you.  Amen."  I  led  them  all  in  prayer,  and 
at  its  close  each  one  said:  "I  feel  good  now." 

Two  of  these  boys  have  developed  wonder- 
fully. Lonnie  Powers  was  always  very 
bright  in  his  lessons;  he  craved  knowledge 
and  rapidly  passed  every  boy  in  the  school, 


134    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

always  crying  for  more  work,  more  informa- 
tion. He  was  just  as  loving  and  obedient  as 
he  was  bright,  and  I  became  convinced,  watch- 
ing his  progress  in  spiritual  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual things,  that  God  had  a  work  for  him 
and  wanted  him  to  have  a  wider  training  than 
I  could  give  him.  My  thought  was  to  send 
him  to  the  Academy  at  Nyack,  New  York, 
and  after  much  prayer  I  got  the  assurance 
that  God  would  have  him  go.  I  had  often 
written  about  him  to  my  church  people  at 
home  and  now  I  wrote  again  telling  them  how 
I  felt  about  him.  I  did  not  know  who  was 
to  be  the  honored  one  to  pay  his  expenses 
through  school,  but  I  knew  that  God  was 
talking  to  some  one,  for  a  week  after  I  had 
laid  the  matter  before  the  Lord  and  was  sure 
in  my  soul  that  Lonnie  was  to  go,  I  received 
in  my  mail,  which  had  been  seven  weeks  on 
the  way,  a  letter  from  a  man,  almost  a 
stranger,  who  said  that  he  had  had  a  talk  with 
me  at  Old  Orchard  Beach,  Me.,  about  five 
years  before.  I  had  told  my  experiences 
with  the  Indians  and  he  had  gone  to  hear  me 
speak.  "Now  a  few  days  ago,"  he  added,  "I 
was  led  to  send  this  five  dollars  to  you.     I 


Boys  from  the   silmol.      Andrew    Ferj^usoii    is  third    from   the  left. 


Beads  for  the  legs.      Dame   Fashion  is  as  tyraiiaical  in  ban   Bias  as 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  135 

trust  it  will  be  helpful."  So  I  saw  that  God 
had  begun  to  talk  money  matters  to  His  own 
children.  I  only  sent  my  order  to  the  Bank 
of  Heaven,  and  my  Father  cashed  it  through 
various  bankers.  This  five  dollars  was  the 
earnest  of  Lonnie's  going  through  school; 
more  would  come.  When  I  received  the 
next  mail  all  that  was  needed  for  his  passage 
and  outfit  came,  with  a  letter  from  Emmanuel 
Church  saying  that  they  would  support  Lon- 
nie  in  school. 

The  next  step  was  to  gain  the  consent  of 
the  parents  and  relatives,  for  Lonnie  was 
very  eager  to  go.  His  mother  and  grand- 
mother wept  for  two  days  before  he  left  home, 
saying  that  they  would  not  see  him  any  more, 
and  it  seemed  as  though  Lonnie's  way  would 
be  blocked.  He  said:  "I  do  want  to  go,  and 
I  keep  praying  that  God  will  let  me."  Fi- 
nally the  father  and  older  brother  took  the 
reins  of  government  into  their  own  hands  and 
prepared  Lonnie's  clothes — for  it  is  the  men 
who  are  the  tailors  in  the  San  Bias  Country 
— packed  the  box,  or  rather  threw  the  things 
in,  for  they  do  not  know  how  to  fold  or  press 
their  clothes,  and  finally  all  was  ready  and 


136    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

he  was  to  go.  I  was  going  to  attend  the 
Latin-American  Conference  at  Panama  City 
from  February  10  to  20,  1916,  and  planned  to 
take  Lonnie  Powers  and  Andrew  Ferguson 
with  me  and  to  send  Lonnie  on  to  Nyack  from 
there.  His  mother  and  grandmother  wept 
before  he  left,  but  finally  ended  by  submitting 
to  his  father's  wish. 

While  we  were  in  Panama  both  of  the  boys 
were  baptized  by  the  elder  in  the  Christian 
Mission,  and  their  testimony  in  that  Mission 
Hall  aroused  many  of  the  young  people,  who 
had  heard  the  gospel  all  their  lives  and  had 
not  accepted  Christ,  to  do  so  then.  I  arranged 
for  Lonnie  to  sail  on  the  steamer  Colon  leav- 
ing the  dock  at  Christobal  on  Thursday,  Feb- 
ruary 24th,  19 1 6,  and  he  was  to  arrive  in  New 
York  on  March  i,  exactly  three  years  since 
I  had  started  my  school.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  fruits  of  my  work  going  to  the  United 
States  to  be  trained  for  a  missionary  to  his 
own  San  Bias  Indians. 

Andrew  Ferguson,  the  other  boy,  has  been 
used  of  God  since  his  return  from  Panama  to 
preach  to  his  own  people  so  that  several  men, 
one  woman  and  over  sixty  of  my  boys  and 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  137 

girls  have  been  prayed  with  and  say  that  they 
have  accepted  Jesus  Christ;  that  he  saves  and 
helps  them  now  in  their  studies  and  all  that 
they  do.  There  has  been  a  great  change  in 
their  behavior.  Andrew  plans  to  go  and 
preach  to  the  mountain  Indians  if  God  opens 
the  way.  Meanwhile  he  has  a  great  burden 
for  his  family.  His  father  is  under  convic- 
tion and  is  giving  up  little  by  little  and  says 
he  wants  to  be  a  real  Christian.  Andrew  tells 
him  that  he  must  give  up  all,  not  his  mouth 
only  to  speak  good  words  but  his  whole  heart; 
then  God's  Spirit  will  come  in  and  bless  him. 
Andrew  is  my  right-hand  boy:  his  life  is  a 
constant  testimony  for  Jesus.  Through  his 
example  and  pleadings  many  of  the  boys  have 
accepted  Christ,  and  he  is  like  a  young  shep- 
herd, watching  them,  praying  with  them  and 
encouraging  them.  His  manner  of  life  is 
simple.  He  works  with  his  father  on  their 
plantation,  cocoanuts  being  their  chief  means 
of  support,  and  they  raise  cane,  corn  and 
other  vegetables.  Their  wants  are  few  and 
easily  supplied. 

One    Sunday    several    men    were    getting 
sand  to  put  around  their  doorstep,  and  An- 


138    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

drew's  father  went  to  work  with  them. 
While  working  he  cut  his  foot,  and  when  he 
came  into  the  house  and  showed  it,  Andrew 
said :  "Well,  father,  God  says  to  remember  the 
Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy.  You  forgot 
God's  command ;  this  is  what  the  Devil  gives 
you  for  pleasing  him."  His  father  admitted 
that  he  was  right,  and  he  came  to  the  gospel 
service  that  night  and  told  me  what  Andrew 
had  said  to  him. 

Before  the  priests  came  to  the  Island  An- 
drew's father  wanted  him  to  be  a  "Camdulay" 
singer,  one  who  sings  at  the  chee-chee  feasts, 
and  he  had  taken  some  lessons  and  had  gotten 
drunk  too.  But  when  the  priests  came  his 
father  told  him  he  must  learn  to  sing  with 
them  and  to  drink  and  smoke  as  they  did. 
But  Andrew  did  not  fancy  the  priests  with 
their  shaven  heads  and  long  black  robes  and 
did  not  learn  their  ways  quickly.  If  the 
priest  had  been  awake  to  his  opportunity  An- 
drew might  have  been  trained  for  the  priest- 
hood, but  he  was  not;  God  had  his  hand  on 
the  boy  and  was  holding  him  for  His  own 
work.     When  I  came  his  father  was  very  anx- 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  139 

ious  to  have  him  in  my  school,  and  in  a  year's 
time  he  gave  his  heart  to  Christ. 

Joe  Harris,  the  third  boy  who  accepted 
Christ  at  the  same  time,  has  had  quite  a  dif- 
ferent history  from  the  other  two.  He  came 
to  me  after  my  school  had  been  going  about 
two  months.  He  had  lived  with  the  priests 
and  spoke  Spanish  well,  and  in  a  year  from 
the  time  he  came  to  school  he  could  speak 
English  very  well.  He  is  a  bright,  jolly  lit- 
tle lad  and  every  one  is  fond  of  him,  and  he 
is  easily  influenced  by  the  company  he  is  in. 
A  young  man  came  from  Colon  who  had 
earned  a  few  dollars  there,  and  he  celebrated 
by  "treating"  his  friends.  Little  Joe  was  with 
him,  and  the  next  morning  he  came  stagger- 
ing past  the  door  of  the  school  at  nine  o'clock, 
drunk.  My  heart  fairly  stopped  beating  at 
the  sight  and  I  nearly  fainted  away.  The 
whole  school  received  a  shock.  I  could  not 
teach  any  more  that  day.  I  had  never  had 
anything  grieve  me  so.  I  closed  the  school 
and  went  to  the  home  of  Chief  Robinson,  with 
whom  Joe  lived,  because  he  came  from  an- 
other island  where  his  father  was  chief,  and 


I40    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

was  here  to  attend  school.  I  found  that  the 
whole  family  had  gone  to  one  of  the  planta- 
tions early  that  morning,  and  that  Joe  refused 
to  go  because  the  young  man  wanted  him  to 
stay  and  drink  with  him. 

Some  of  the  men  said  they  would  send  Joe 
home  to  his  father,  but  the  next  day  he  came 
to  school  repentant  enough.  As  I  talked  with 
him  he  cried  and  wanted  me  to  pray  for  him. 
He  prayed  too  and  told  the  Lord  he  would 
not  touch  rum  again.  He  said  it  was  not  the 
first  time  he  had  been  drunk. 

He  seemed  very  earnest  after  that.  He 
learned  seven  chapters  in  John's  Gospel  and 
several  Psalms,  was  an  excellent  reader  and 
speller  and  fine  in  arithmetic.  Long  Divi- 
sion was  his  delight.  He  was  full  of  fun :  his 
laugh  was  contagious,  and  he  would  have  kept 
the  school  in  an  uproar  daily  if  left  to  himself. 
He  remained  with  me  until  May,  191 5,  when 
a  Government  ship  came  up  to  the  island,  and 
one  of  the  officials,  seeing  how  bright  he  was 
and  how  quickly  he  answered  several  ques- 
tions, took  a  great  fancy  to  him  and  took  him 
away  with  him.  I  was  sorry  to  part  with 
him,  but  I  was  not  consulted  either  by  the 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  141 

official  or  the  father  and  would  not  have 
known  he  was  going  if  the  boys  had  not  run 
to  say  that  Joe  was  packing  up  his  clothes  in 
the  chief's  house.  I  went  down  to  the  boat 
and  gave  him  a  New  Testament  in  Spanish 
and  English.  I  had  promised  him  one  when 
he  finished  learning  the  119th  Psalm.  He 
had  not  finished  it,  but  he  was  going  away 
where  he  would  speak  only  Spanish,  and  I 
felt  that  he  must  have  God's  Word  in  both 
languages.  I  have  not  seen  him  since,  but 
the  man  who  took  him  gave  a  fairly  good  re- 
port of  him  after  eight  months.  I  pray  for 
him  daily. 

Joe's  father  is  quite  an  intelligent,  good- 
looking  man  about  forty  years  old.  He  was 
very  eager  to  have  a  school,  and  now  the  Gov- 
ernment has  built  one  on  his  island.  They 
need  the  light  of  the  Gospel;  but  as  they  do 
not  know  their  need  we  must  carry  it  to  them. 

Many  of  the  other  boys  are  very  interest- 
ing; indeed  all  of  them  are,  and  very  human 
too.  Sometimes  it  is  very  hard  for  them  to 
apply  themselves  to  study.  One  boy  told  his 
father  he  was  too  tired  to  go  to  school,  and 
he  started  to  walk  about  the  town;  but  his 


142     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

father  said,  "Oh,  boy,  if  you  are  too  tired  to 
go  to  school  you  are  too  tired  to  walk  about 
the  town.  You  had  better  go  to  bed."  That 
settled  it;  he  went  to  school,  for  what  boy 
wants  to  go  to  bed  in  the  afternoon? 

Eustace  Farnum,  about  eleven,  finds  it  very 
hard  to  concentrate  on  his  books,  but  if  a  crab 
scratches  its  nose  he  hears  it.  He  is  very  af- 
fectionate, and  if  he  can't  keep  in  my  good 
graces  by  well-learned  lessons  he  tries  to  smile 
his  way  into  my  heart,  and  he  is  an  adept  at 
that  art.  He  does  like  to  go  fishing;  but  what 
human  boy  could  resist  that  temptation  when 
the  fish  are  jumping  up  by  the  'handfuls  and 
fairly  begging:  "Come  and  catch  me!"  I  be- 
lieve Eustace  can  fairly  hear  them  whisper. 
He  complains  of  a  headache  sometimes,  but 
it  all  disappears  when  he  gets  a  fish-line  in 
his  hands.  But  he  is  not  the  only  boy  that 
has  the  same  disease  and  is  as  suddenly  cured. 

Everett  Bertram  is  an  excellent  reader  and 
plans  to  be  a  missionary  some  day. 

His  father  is  very  anxious  to  have  him  in 
school  regularly,  so  does  not  give  him  any  en- 
couragement to  listen  to  the  fish,  and  if  he  has 
aches   of   any  kind   a   dose  of  medicine  is 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  143 

promptly  administered  and  the  order  "To 
bed"  is  given.  His  father  is  also  a  believer 
in  Solomon's  remedy,  and  rod  and  moral  sua- 
sion go  together.  Not  long  ago  Everett 
stayed  away  from  night  school.  On  making 
inquiry  I  found  that  his  father  had  gone  to 
Colon:  that  was  the  secret.  The  cat  was 
away,  and  this  mouse  played  truant.  The 
next  night,  however,  he  was  the  first  one  in, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  session,  when  we  all 
pray,  he  asked  God  to  forgive  him  for  sitting 
at  home  the  night  before.  He  had  heard  bad 
words,  and  the  "Devil's  spirit"  gave  him  bad 
dreams ;  he  promised  he  would  not  do  it  again. 
I  was  glad  to  know  that  he  understood  that 
he  had  done  wrong.  I  tell  my  boys  that  if 
they  will  only  remember  the  first  Psalm  and 
ask  God  to  help  them,  he  will  keep  them  from 
bad  company. 

Ned  Williams  is  the  eldest  child  of  the 
chief  of  another  island  about  eight  miles 
away.  His  father  often  comes  to  see  how 
Ned  is  getting  on.  When  he  was  in  the 
Primer  reading  "A  fat  cat  sat  on  the  mat" 
his  father,  pointing  to  a  shelf  of  books,  asked 
if  Ned  could  read  all  those! 


144    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Ned's  mother  does  not  want  her  boy  away 
from  her,  and  in  order  to  get  him  home  some 
time  ago  she  sent  word  that  she  was  sick,  so 
he  went  home ;  but  as  his  mother  began  to  get 
better  he  wanted  to  return  to  school.  She 
tried  to  persuade  him  that  he  knew  enough, 
but  no,  he  wanted  more,  and  refused  to  eat 
until  his  father  brought  him  back  to  school. 
I  think  he  is  about  eleven  or  twelve;  but  the 
boys  and  girls  are  so  tiny  that  it  is  hard  for 
me  to  guess  their  right  ages.  Of  late  when 
his  father  comes  and  Ned  can  interpret  for 
me,  it  is  wonderful!  The  father  begs  me  to 
take  him  to  New  York  with  me  when  I  go. 
The  fathers  all  say  that  there  is  nothing  here 
for  their  boys  to  do  and  they  are  eager  to  have 
them  go  to  New  York,  which  is  the  goal  of 
their  ambition. 

When  the  San  Bias  boys  marry  they  go  to 
their  wife's  home  and  work  hard  for  her 
family,  so  the  parents  are  willing  to  give  their 
boys  away  but  not  the  girls.  Mr.  Phillips 
says  that  he  will  send  his  only  girl,  Agnes,  to 
an  American  school  some  day.  He  makes  her 
American  style  dresses;  yes,  he  makes  them, 
for  the  men  are  great  sewers.     But  when  it 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  145 

comes  to  the  question  of  Agnes'  going  away 
it  will  have  to  be  taken  before  the  whole  fam- 
ily, of  which  he  is  only  one  member.  He, 
being  in  the  home  of  his  wife's  mother  and 
father,  has  not  the  entire  control  of  his  chil- 
dren. If  his  wife  died  and  he  married  again, 
he  would  not  be  allowed  to  take  one  of  his 
children  with  him  to  his  new  home — a  blessed 
relief  from  stepmotherism!  There  are  plenty 
of  stepfathers,  however,  for  if  a  man  marries 
a  widow  with  children  he  has  to  work  for 
her  children,  but  is  not  allowed  to  correct 
them.  Oh,  no,  there  is  no  rule  of  the  step- 
fathers! 

Here  is  Freddy  Phillips,  about  nine  years 
old.  His  father  speaks  very  good  English, 
for  he  was  a  sailor  and  visited  many  foreign 
ports;  and  he  is  anxious  to  have  his  children 
become  good  English  scholars,  offering  to  let 
them  go  away  to  school.  Freddy  is  one  of 
my  pupil-teachers.  He  makes  a  fine  report 
of  his  scholars:  "Miss  Coope,  my  boys  are 
very  good  to-day.  Clifford  had  one  mistake 
first  time  reading;  second  time  none.  Ed- 
ward had  no  mistakes  first  time  reading;  sec- 
ond time  none,"  etc.,  until  all  the  boys  are 


146    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

reported  on.  With  a  bewitching  snap  in  his 
eyes  he  gives  me  his  slate,  and  I  read  the  re- 
port to  the  whole  school.  Why  not?  Such 
a  helper  as  that  must  be  encouraged.  He 
says  he  loves  Jesus  too,  because  he  has  for- 
given him  all  his  bad  and  made  his  heart 
clean.  He  has  learned  the  Commandments, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  eight  Psalms  and  is 
now  working  on  the  119th  Psalm.  He  is 
Lonnie  Powers'  cousin,  their  mothers  being 
sisters. 

Charles  Robinson,  the  son  of  the  chief,  is 
also  a  bright  little  helper.  His  father  would 
have  sent  him  North  with  Lonnie  if  his 
mother  had  not  begged  so  strongly  not  to  have 
him  go :  he  was  so  young,  only  nine  years  old. 
He  is  the  only  one  on  the  island  who  knows 
his  birthday.     He  likes  to  teach. 

It  is  very  amusing  to  hear  the  comments  of 
the  class  on  their  boy  teachers :  they  are  very 
plain  spoken:  "Miss  Coope,  the  teacher  is 
no  good." 

"Oh,  dear  me,  how  is  this?" 

"He  does  not  open  his  mouth  and  speak 
plainly." 

Sometimes  the  teacher  is  discouraged — who 


SOME  OF  MY  BOYS  147 

would  not  be  with  such  critics? — and  says: 
"Miss  Coope,  I  won't  teach  any  more." 

"Oh,  yes,  you  will,  because  you  want  to  help 
me;  and  you  are  going  to  open  your  mouth 
the  way  I  do:  see?" 

Then  follows  an  exercise  in  mouth  open- 
ing, watched  by  the  whole  school  with  their 
mouths  opened ;  then  everybody  is  in  good  hu- 
mor, and  I  have  volunteer  teachers  in  abun- 
dance, all  eager  to  show  how  they  can  open 
their  mouths;  then  follows  another  exercise 
in  keeping  the  mouths  shut. 

These  are  some  of  my  boys,  and  you  see 
they  are  just  as  human  as  the  boys  in  America. 
Some  people  have  an  idea  that  if  they  could 
only  go  to  a  far-away  heathen  land  where  the 
people  are  so  different  from  those  at  home, 
they  could  do  great  things  with  them.  But 
let  me  say  for  the  benefit  of  those  people  that 
the  heathen  have  as  much  knowledge  of  evil 
as  our  educated  teachers  at' home,  for  the 
fallen  nature  is  theirs  to  contend  with  just  as 
much  and  it  comes  to  the  top  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  The  color  of  the  skin  does  not  hin- 
der its  manifestations,  and  education  does  not 
eradicate  it;  only  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 


148    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

can  do  that.  We  rejoice  that  we  are  called 
to  lift  up  Jesus  as  the  only  Saviour  from  the 
power  of  the  Devil,  who  is  as  busy  out  here 
as  elsewhere,  and  we  are  not  ignorant  of  his 
devices. 


CHAPTER  XI 

"THE  CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND" 

FOR  a  long  time  after  my  coming  to  the 
island  I  worked  for  the  conversion  of 
Chief  Robinson  without  his  surrendering  to 
Christ.  He  resisted  the  Spirit,  saying,  when 
brought  almost  to  the  point  of  surrender, 
''Some  other  time,"  but  I  prayed  on  and  be- 
lieved for  him.  Often  when  I  interpreted  the 
gospel  invitations  to  believe  and  accept  Jesus 
now,  he  would  preach  to  himself,  saying:  "Yes, 
it  is  true,  and  it  is  against  me,  but  I  will  believe 
soon."  Then  he  would  come  to  me  for  a  talk, 
and  just  when  he  seemed  almost  persuaded 
some  one  would  come  and  call  him,  and  he 
would  go  away  still  undecided.  Often  he 
would  avoid  me  by  going  to  his  plantation  on 
Saturday  and  returning  on  Monday,  so  that 
for  several  Sundays  I  would  not  see  him. 
When  we  talked  he  would  try  to  justify  him- 
self by  arguing  that  all  the  old  Indians  be- 

149 


I50    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

lieved  that  if  they  did  not  murder  a  man  they 
would  go  to  heaven;  that  he  was  not  bad;  he 
used  to  be  when  he  was  a  sailor,  but  he  had 
turned  over  a  new  leaf!  How  like  so  many 
with  far  greater  light  than  he  who  try  to 
reason  themselves  into  the  belief  that 
they  are  not  sinners  needing  to  be  bom 
again  1 

After  he  had  stayed  away  from  the  Sunday 
night  services  for  three  weeks,  saying  that  he 
had  to  work  or  he  was  sick,  or  some  other  ex- 
cuse, I  said  to  myself :  "Yes,  you  are  trying  to 
get  away  from  God,  but  He  will  get  you  yet!" 
Then  he  began  to  tell  me  of  the  trouble  brew- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  people.  It  seems  that 
they  wanted  a  big  "chee-chee."  There  were 
four  girls  of  marriageable  age  and  they  had 
planned  a  bigger  affair  than  ever.  They 
thought  that  they  had  obeyed  the  chief  pretty 
well  for  months  now,  and  he  ought  to  let 
them  have  another  spree.  He  was  in  a 
quandary,  and  with  his  own  heart's  convic- 
tions to  battle  against,  he  was  having  a  hard 
time.  He  stayed  in  my  sitting-room  for  three 
hours,  and  we  talked  of  God  and  his  power 
to  save,  to  help  and  to  guide.     He  agreed  that 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND     151 

all  I  told  him  was  right,  but  pleaded:  "Don't 
I  try  my  best  to  get  my  people  to  do  right?" 

Then  I  turned  his  own  argument  against 
him.  "Yes,"  I  said,  "you  are  trying,  and  be- 
cause they  refuse  to  see  as  you  do  you  feel  bad 
about  it.  It  is  for  their  own  good,  and  yet 
they  positively  refuse  to  be  helped.  How 
about  you  and  God?  You  admit  that  I  am 
right,  that  I  am  giving  you  the  best  I  know 
of  God's  truth;  and  yet  you  refuse  to  obey 
God,  who  is  over  you,  and  expect  your  peo- 
ple to  obey  youl  If  you  will  surrender  your 
will  to  God  he  will  teach  you  how  to  lead 
others.  You  need  God  at  this  particular 
time,  but  you  must  surrender  first,  then  your 
people  will." 

But  he  was  not  willing.  After  much  per- 
suasion, after  he  acknowledged  that  it  was  the 
right  thing  to  do,  he  jumped  up  as  though  he 
had  been  shot  and  said,  "Not  to-night;  some 
other  time,"  and  left  without  saying  good- 
night. My  heart  was  grieved,  but  I  had 
faith  in  God;  I  was  not  discouraged;  I  knew 
that  God  was  talking  to  him. 

This  was  on  a  Thursday  night.  The  chief 
went  away  again  on  Saturday,  returning  on 


152     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Monday,  and  again  the  week  after,  but  had 
to  return  Saturday  night  as  quickly  as  he 
could.  He  reached  home  at  midnight  and 
was  in  agony  the  rest  of  the  night  with  bodily 
pain.  Early  Sunday  morning  he  sent  for  me, 
his  boy  saying,  "Oh,  come  quick!  My  fa- 
ther is  very  sick,  vomiting  blood."  I  went,  to 
find  him  rolling  in  his  hammock  in  great 
pain.  As  I  went  in  he  said :  "Oh,  Miss  Coope, 
do  pray  for  me!     Do  pray  now!" 

"Oh,  not  now,"  I  replied.  "Some  other 
time  will  do.  There  is  no  hurry;  go  to 
sleep." 

"But  I  can't  sleep;  God  is  talking  to  me. 
Pray  for  mel" 

"No,  you  pray  for  yourself  now.  If  God 
is  talking  to  you,  you  must  talk  to  Him.  IVe 
done  all  I  can ;  I  can't  help  you  now.  I  can't 
relieve  you;  only  Jesus  the  .Saviour  can  do 
that." 

"I  know  it!  I  should  have  given  Him  my 
heart  long  ago.  He  has  been  talking  to  me, 
but  I  didn't  want  to  obey.     I  will  obey  now." 

"Well,  then,  confess  your  sins  first  Are 
you  a  sinner?" 

"Yes." 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND    153 

^Then  tell  God  and  ask  Him  to  forgive  you 
now." 

Between  groans  he  prayed,  and  when  he 
had  confessed  and  asked  God  to  pardon  him, 
I  thanked  God  for  convicting  him  and  asked 
Him  to  heal  the  sick  man,  that  he  might 
glorify  God  and  lead  his  people  to  know  Him 
for  themselves.  I  then  began  to  inquire 
about  his  body;  that  was  secondary;  we  had  to 
settle  the  spiritual  sickness  first.  I  had  them 
get  me  some  eggs  and  gave  him  the  whites  of 
eggs  only  that  day  and  the  next.  The  pain 
in  his  stomach  ceased  and  he  slept.  I  stayed 
up  with  him  all  night.  His  little  boy  of 
three  was  sick  also,  and  they  were  going  to 
chant  some  Indian  nonsense  over  him,  at  the 
same  time  waving  a  wooden  image  the  length 
of  a  man's  hand,  to  drive  away  the  bad  spirit 
that  was  making  the  child  sick.  I  told  him 
to  tell  them  to  pray  to  God,  and  if  the  child 
was  to  get  better  God  would  heal  him.  He 
sent  the  message  to  them,  and  they  did  not 
go  through  the  incantations;  the  boy  recov- 
ered. 

Meanwhile  preparations  for  the  great 
feast  were  going  on.     The  chief  called  a  meet- 


154    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

ing  and  was  carried  downstairs  into  his 
brother's  house,  where  the  men  gathered  to 
hear  him  tell  what  God  had  done  for  him. 
This  was  on  Sunday.  On  the  Wednesday  fol- 
lowing some  of  the  men  murmured  against 
him,  saying  that  they  would  have  the  ^'drunk." 
The  chief  sent  his  four  policemen  to  gather 
up  every  vessel  that  would  be  used  for  holding 
rum.  The  men  had  gathered  a  great  quantity 
of  sugar-cane  and  insisted  that  they  must  have 
the  feast  now  in  order  to  use  the  cane.  The 
chief's  answer  was :  "You  can  eat  the  cane  or 
use  it  in  some  other  way,  but  you  shall  not 
make  rum!"  and  they  didn't!  The  vessels 
were  all  put  in  a  pile  in  the  house  in  front  of 
the  chief's  hammock  and  I  was  called  in  to 
see  the  sight.  It  reminded  me  of  what  the 
Ephesians  did  after  hearing  the  preaching  of 
Paul:  "Not  a  few  of  them  that  practiced 
magical  arts  brought  their  books  together  and 
burned  them  in  the  sight  of  all,"  Acts  19:  19. 
The  chief  broke  the  vessels,  and  there  has  not 
been  a  drunken  feast  on  this  island  since  that 
day. 

The  date  of  Chief  Robinson's  conversion 
was  November  14th,  1914,  and  from  that  time 


The 


..a 
the   Island    of 


main    street    on    tne   island    ot     Rio    Diablo.     jMative    woman 
carrying  her  husband's  canoe.     Cross  indicates  the 
last  rum  shop,  now  closed. 


A  Panamanian    policeman  with  some    native  boys  and  girls.      The 
steps  to  the  new  government  public  school  are  in  the  background. 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND    155 

he  has  preached  in  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  did  not  regain  his  strength  rap- 
idly; it  was  three  months  before  he  could 
work  again;  and  during  that  time  he  learned 
lessons  of  obedience.  As  the  Mountain  In- 
dians visit  him  he  spreads  the  gospel  to  them, 
and  my  boys  tell  me  that  he  often  talks  of 
Jesus  to  them  in  the  store. 

During  the  chief's  illness  the  leader  of  the 
faction  who  had  wanted  the  drinking  feast 
stirred  up  a  revolt,  urging  the  people  to  make 
him  chief.  As  the  office  is  not  hereditary, 
but  usually  lasts  until  the  death  of  the  chief, 
they  tried  to  kill  Chief  Robinson  by  giving 
him  some  fish  that  was  a  deadly  poison.  He 
discovered  it  before  he  had  eaten  much,  but 
the  little  that  he  did  take  made  him  very  sick. 
God  needed  him,  however,  and  he  recovered. 
The  rebels  went  on  holding  meetings  and 
planned  and  carried  out  a  spree  on  another 
island,  at  which  the  leader  made  such  a  beast 
of  himself  that  the  people  on  that  island  beat 
him  and  he  came  home  somewhat  humbled. 

But  now  a  new  element  was  introduced 
into  the  situation.  Before  I  lefft  Colon  to 
come  to  this  island  I  had  called  twice  on  the 


156    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

new  President  of  Panama.  The  second  time 
I  asked  him  for  a  letter  as  a  passport,  telling 
him  why  I  wanted  it.  He  replied :  "Oh,  you 
do  not  need  a  passport.  This  is  a  free  coun- 
try and  you  can  go  where  you  please  and  start 
a  school."  I  thanked  him  for  that,  and  then 
he  asked  me  why  I  wanted  to  go  to  the  In- 
dians; he  said  they  were  a  very  treacherous 
people;  that  the  Government  had  to  send  sol- 
diers to  Port-o-Baldia  to  keep  order,  they 
were  so  terrible. 

I  answered:  "Mr.  President,  I  am  going  be- 
cause I  feel  that  God  wants  me  to  tell  them  of 
Jesus  who  loves  them.  I  want  to  teach  them 
God^s  Book." 

"Are  you  not  afraid?" 

"No,  because  Jesus  has  said,  *I  am  with  you 
always.' " 

"But  are  you  going  alone?" 

"Yes,  alone,  yet  not  alone.  God  has  said, 
'Certainly  I  will  be  with  thee,'  and  I  believe 
God." 

"Oh,  surely,  but  I  would  not  risk  my  life 
going  to  them.    They  will  kill  you." 

"No,  they  will  not;  I  am  not  in  the  least 
afraid  of  that" 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND    157 

"Well,  you  must  be  a  brave  woman,  a  very 
brave  woman !" 

*^I  get  it  all  from  God.  I  am  not  naturally 
brave,  but  he  makes  me  so,  and  I  love  to  obey 
Him." 

"Then  I  wish  you  much  success." 

Two  years  and  three  months  after  that  con- 
versation in  his  house  President  Porras 
knocked  at  my  door  in  Rio  Diablo.  I  never 
was  more  surprised.  Here  we  stood  face  to 
face  again,  this  time  among  the  "treacherous" 
Indians.  He  shook  hands  heartily,  saying: 
"I  am  so  glad  to  see  you,  Miss  Coope.  You 
are  looking  well." 

"Yes,  you  see  the  Indians  have  fed  me  in- 
stead of  feeding  on  me,"  I  replied.  "But, 
Mr.  President,  are  you  not  afraid  to  come 
here?" 

"Not  now.  Your  bravery  has  encouraged 
me.  I  dare  to  follow  you.  I  need  not  ask 
if  you  are  well ;  I  see  it.  I  have  heard  great 
reports  of  your  school  and  I  appreciate  your 
good  work." 

It  is  safe  to  go  where  the  banner  of  Jesus 
has  been  raised,  but  it  is  blessed  to  go  and  lift 
it  for  Jesus,  He  leading  to  the  spot! 


158     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

Seeing  how  the  school  had  affected  these 
^^treacherous''  Indians,  how  clean  their  dress, 
houses,  and  streets  were,  and  hearing  the  chil- 
dren sing  the  national  anthem  and  gospel 
hymns  in  English  and  Spanish,  the  President 
was  surprised  and  made  arrangements  with 
Chief  Robinson  to  have  a  school  here  sup- 
ported by  the  Government  in  which  only 
Spanish  should  be  taught. 

Now  the  would-be  chief  and  his  followers 
were  not  in  favor  of  my  Bible  school,  because 
their  wickedness  was  exposed  by  its  teachings. 
They  would  not  send  their  children  nor  would 
they  attend  the  gospel  services.  Having  had 
the  light,  they  shrank  back  into  the  darkness. 
So  when  the  President  proposed  the  new 
Spanish  school  to  Chief  Robinson  he  of  course 
had  to  call  a  meeting  of  his  people.  All  were 
eager  to  know  what  President  Porras  had 
said,  for  a  little  of  it  had  leaked  out,  and  the 
rebels  wanted  to  know  how  the  chief  would 
act  now.  If  he  had  another  school  they  were 
surely  going  to  kill  him,  and  if  they  got  into 
power  they  were  going  to  close  my  school. 
So  they  came  to  the  meeting  for  spite,  with 
murder  in  their  hearts. 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND     159 

I  was  called  to  the  meeting,  although  I  un- 
derstand very  little  of  the  Indian  language; 
and  there  in  the  midst  of  five  chiefs  and  their 
bodyguards  and  the  leading  men  from  the 
other  smaller  island,  whose  chief  is  led  by 
Chief  Robinson,  with  every  man,  friend  and 
foe  of  our  noble  chief,  I  sat,  wondering,  pray- 
ing, watching  the  faces  of  the  rebels,  who  sat 
on  the  back  seats  as  backsliders  always  do. 

The  chief  stood  up  and  told  them  all  that 
the  President  had  said.  There  was  perfect 
stillness  aside  from  an  occasional  grunt;  then 
like  a  bomb  in  their  midst  he  dropped  this 
decision:  "I  have  decided  to  resign  as  chief. 
You  can  appoint  a  new  one  and  settle  with  the 
President." 

He  sat  down,  and  the  assembly  were  dumb- 
founded. For  several  seconds  there  was  not 
even  a  grunt!  Then  the  second  chief  here, 
who  was  partly  for  the  existing  order  of  things 
and  partly  for  the  new  would-be  chief,  rose 
and  in  a  very  determined  manner  declared 
that  they  could  not  let  him  resign. 

Such  a  hubbub  as  followed,  all  airing  their 
own  views!  After  much  palavering,  during 
which  the  chief  sat  and  listened  and  I  could 


i6o    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

only  pray  that  the  right  might  prevail  and  the 
rebel  party  be  broken  up,  several  men  stood 
up  voicing  their  decision  to  this  effect:  they 
had  unanimously  voted  to  have  Chief  Robin- 
son remain  in  office,  and  all  the  rebellious  ones 
would  return  under  his  leadership,  and  what- 
ever his  decision  was  concerning  even  another 
school,  they  would  abide  by  it! 

Then  the  chief  talked  to  them.  He  told 
them  that  as  they  were  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public of  Panama  they  should  be  obedient  to 
its  laws,  its  President,  etc.;  that  as  Indians 
they  would  still  be  Indians,  only  with  more 
advantages  (some  had  gotten  the  idea  that  if 
they  had  an  education  they  would  cease  to 
be  Indians),  because  they  were  hindered  in 
their  business  transactions  by  having  to  have 
interpreters,  and  if  they  knew  how  to  read  and 
write  the  Spanish  language  they  could  attend 
to  their  own  business;  that  the  young  people 
ought  to  have  a  chance.  He  said  that  he  ap- 
proved of  the  new  school,  but  that  they  could 
send  their  children  to  either  school  or  keep 
them  at  home ;  there  was  no  compulsion ;  that 
they  need  not  mix  with  the  foreigners,  as  only 
the  teachers  would  be  allowed  to  live  on  the 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND    i6i 

islands.  (They  have  a  great  dread  of  the 
white  man  taking  their  women.)  He  said 
that  he  would  not  allow  a  priest  or  nun  to 
come  as  a  teacher;  that  for  his  part  he  wanted 
the  Bible  taught,  not  creeds  or  prayer-books, 
images  or  crosses. 

After  this  speech  there  were  grunts  and 
grunts,  and  at  times  a  man  would  get  up  and 
take  the  floor.  It  was  a  very  well  ordered 
meeting,  and  at  the  end  of  three  hours  we  all 
went  to  our  homes.  The  President  returned 
the  next  day  and  was  told  the  result  of  the 
meeting,  which  held  for  three  islands,  for  the 
chief  of  Mdna  was  there,  having  learned  a  sad 
lesson  when  he  put  me  off  his  island.  Al- 
though his  own  son  attended  my  school  his 
island  was  in  ignorance. 

So  now  there  are  three  Government  schools 
on  the  three  important  islands,  Rio  Diablo 
especially  being  called  "the  New  York  of  San 
Bias"  by  traders  and  visitors,  and  there  has 
been  progress  along  all  lines.  The  chief  has 
learned  to  bake  bread,  and  now  has  a  bakery 
on  the  spot  where  he  once  had  a  saloon 
and  is  selling  daily  all  the  bread  that  he  can 
make,  using  two  three-burner  oil-stoves.    Four 


i62    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

other  men,  each  of  whom  was  formerly  a  rum- 
seller,  have  ordered  stoves  also;  and  besides 
this  in  their  stores  there  are  Bibles,  hymn- 
books,  slates  and  pencils  for  sale.  Praise  God 
for  this  wonderful  change!  This  is  a  sample 
of  what  God  can  do  among  "treacherous'*  In- 
dians I 

Before  closing  this  account  of  Chief  Rob- 
inson I  must  tell  how  staunchly  he  defended 
me  the  first  year  that  I  worked  on  the  island. 
Chiefs  from  two  of  the  other  islands  were 
much  against  me  for  coming  and  opposed  to 
Chief  Robinson  for  letting  me  in.  The  idea 
that  Indians  should  learn  to  read  and  write 
was  preposterous!  No,  they  should  never  be 
like  the  pale-face!  After  waiting  impa- 
tiently nine  months  for  me  to  get  weary  and 
go,  they  came  over,  one  hundred  naked  red 
Indians,  in  their  canoes,  with  a  red  flag  on  the 
prow.  They  had  not  notified  Chief  Robin- 
son that  they  were  coming,  but  as  the  old  say- 
ing is,  "murder  will  out,"  and  he  heard  about 
it,  and  what  he  said  was  carried  back  to  them. 
He  said  that  he  didn't  want  any  fights,  but  he 
wanted  his  people  educated  and  he  was  going 
to  have  them  educated,  and  the  school  teacher 


CHIEF  MAN  OF  THE  ISLAND    163 

would  be  protected  by  their  lives.  If  Chief 
Neegah  wanted  to  fight  he  had  better  look 
out,  as  he  had  plenty  of  ammunition,  and  if 
they  came  it  would  be  the  worse  for  them. 

After  threatening  a  few  times  they  did  come. 
The  women  on  our  island  were  so  afraid  that 
the  men  came  to  my  house  and  nailed  up  every 
door  but  one,  intending  to  put  the  women  and 
children  in  there.  They  believed  in  pre- 
paredness! It  was  reported  that  the  enemy 
had  passed  in  the  night  to  gather  forces  from 
another  island,  and  that  in  the  evening  there 
were  two  hundred  coming. 

Men  with  rifles  walked  around  the  town 
and  they  fired  off  a  cannon  that  the  chief  owns 
to  warn  off  intruders.  It  sounded  like  war- 
times. The  next  day  little  Joe  said:  *^Miss 
Coope,  the  mountain  Indians  and  Neegah  are 
coming  to  kill  you." 

"Yes?    Well,  will  you  let  them?" 

"No,  nol" 

Then  began  a  sham  battle  among  my  boys 
to  show  how  they  would  fight  to  defend  me, 
and  Joe  tumbled  over  four  or  five  boys  in  the 
fray,  at  which  we  had  a  great  laugh. 

At  noon  the  enemy  came.    I  saw  twelve 


1 64     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

men  get  into  a  three-by-nine  foot  canoe  and 
paddle  towards  the  island.  Our  men  fired, 
the  cannon  boomed,  and  one  boat-load  was 
captured  without  a  man  being  killed  or 
wounded.  Our  men  soon  hauled  down  that 
red  rag  and  dragged  it  on  the  ground.  They 
took  the  captives  to  the  chief,  who  lay  in  his 
hammock  giving  orders.  He  talked  to  the 
prisoners  and  let  them  go,  and  they  have 
never  visited  us  since.  This  battle  was  on 
November  15  th,  1913. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SOME  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS 
INDIANS 

IT  is  always  interesting  to  know  something 
about  the  family  life  and  peculiar  cus- 
toms of  any  people,  and  the  San  Bias  Indians 
have  their  own  rules  of  domestic  government. 
One  of  these  is  that  a  girl  when  married  never 
leaves  the  parental  roof-tree.  The  man  has 
to  come  to  her  home  and  make  it  his  as  long 
as  she  lives.  If  she  dies  and  he  marries 
again,  he  goes  to  the  home  of  the  new  wife, 
but  the  children  of  the  first  wife  stay  with  the 
grandmother  or  aunts,  so  not  many  women 
here  have  to  fill  the  position  of  stepmother 
and  wait  on  and  train  the  first  wife's  children. 
Chief  Robinson,  however,  had  ideas  of  his 
own  and  did  not  propose  to  follow  the  Indian 
custom.  He  had  been  among  white  people 
in  various  ports  for  several  years,  and  he  chose 
to  follow  their  way  in  this  matter.     He  did 

165 


i66    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

not  want  to  be  a  slave  to  his  wife's  father  or 
her  unmarried  or  even  her  married  brothers, 
for  even  though  a  son  is  married  he  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  sister's  comfort  if  she  is 
single,  and  if  she  is  married  he  watches  his 
brother-in-law.  Although  he  may  be  a  slave 
to  some  other  man,  he  does  not  show  much 
mercy  to  his  sister's  husband. 

The  chief  did  not  want  that  kind  of  guard- 
ianship ;  but  when  he  planned  to  take  his  wife 
into  a  house  built  as  the  white  man,  or  wah- 
gah,  builds  it,  he  had  not  only  her  family 
against  him  but  the  whole  islands;  he  was 
breaking  their  custom;  it  had  never  been  done 
before  1  His  wife  refused  to  go  into  the 
house,  which  was  not  yet  built,  and  her  hus- 
band, who  was  not  yet  chief,  left  her  and  for 
a  month  they  lived  apart.  Finally  she  de- 
cided that  he  was  a  fine  man,  that  he  knew 
something,  and  that  he  had  a  will  of  his  own, 
and  she  would  accept  that  will  for  herself! 
The  custom  is  that  all  that  the  husband  owns 
is  claimed  by  his  family,  so  she  wisely  rea- 
soned that  if  he  built  a  house  of  his  own,  when 
he  died  his  family  would  claim  it,  and  she, 
having  left  her  father's  home,  would  then 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS     167 

have  no  home.  She  told  her  husband  her  con- 
clusion, and  he  straightway  made  a  will  giv- 
ing all  his  property  to  her  and  their  children. 
So  the  house  was  built  directly  opposite  her 
mother's  home,  a  two-story  structure  with  a 
cement  floor.  The  ground  floor  is  used  for  a 
store;  upstairs  they  sleep.  The  wife  lives 
most  of  the  time  in  the  kitchen  of  her  mother's 
house,  for  of  course  they  could  not  burn  logs 
in  a  ^*wah-gah"  house,  and  she  must  cook!  so 
that  relieves  her. 

I  once  asked  John  Davis  what  his  wife's 
name  was,  and  he  answered :  "John  Davis  same 
me."  Although  they  do  name  their  wives  as 
it  suits  them,  they  generally  address  them  as 
Homey,  while  the  husband  is  Suey. 

The  San  Bias  marriage  I  have  never  seen, 
but  I  have  heard  it  I  They  marry  at  night, 
and  never  on  a  moonlight  night  when  I  could 
see.  The  chief  told  me  that  the  father  of  the 
girl  makes  the  arrangement.  He  asks  the  fa- 
ther of  the  man  for  his  son.  Sometimes  the 
son  refuses  at  once;  but  if  he  is  willing,  or  if 
his  father  chooses  to  have  him  married,  the 
ceremony  goes  on.  The  girl  is  put  into  a 
hammock;  then  several  young  married  men 


i68     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

go  to  the  house  of  the  bridegroom-to-be  and 
carry  him  bodily  to  the  girl's  house.  If  he 
does  not  know  beforehand  what  is  coming  he 
knows  now,  for  as  they  carry  him  they  yell, 
"Suey!  Suey!  Sueyl"  Then  they  put  him 
into  the  hammock,  and  if  he  does  not  want  to 
be  married  he  jumps  out  and  runs  away.  The 
young  men  run  after  him  and  bring  him  back, 
and  again  he  runs  away,  sometimes  into  the 
sea.  The  third  time  they  bring  him  back, 
and  if  he  wants  to  be  married  he  stays  and  his 
friends  go  home  and  leave  him.  He  is  now 
married.  If  he  really  does  not  want  to  marry 
he  jumps  out  of  the  hammock  once  more  and 
goes  home,  and  they  do  not  run  after  him; 
they  leave  him  until  another  moon,  hoping 
that  he  will  change  his  mind.  Sometimes  he 
does,  and  marries  that  girl,  sometimes  he  does 
not.  But  marry  he  must,  and  if  he  won't  be 
married  when  sober  they  will  get  him  drunk 
so  that  he  can't  run  or  resist;  and  when  he 
sobers  up,  often  he  is  vexed  and  leaves  the 
girl  and  the  island,  taking  a  wife  of  his  own 
choice,  arranging  the  matter  with  the  girl's 
father,  as  she  is  not  to  be  spoken  to  by  her 
sweetheart. 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS     169 

The  girl  at  her  wedding  gets  no  presents, 
no  feast,  no  new  clothes ;  these  are  given  to  her 
when  she  is  "chee-cheed,"  which  is  only  a 
short  time  before  she  is  given  in  marriage. 

Some  of  my  girls  are  refusing  to  be  married 
so  young;  they  say  they  want  to  come  to  school 
and  learn  something;  and  the  chief  is  persuad- 
ing the  parents  to  let  their  girls  develop  more. 
The  girls  are  only  like  little  children  when 
they  become  mothers,  which  has  much  to  do 
with  their  dwarfed  stature;  few  are  taller 
than  I,  and  I  feel  very  big  towering  over 
some  of  the  women,  who  stand  under  my  arm. 
They  are  very  strong,  however;  the  men  guard 
them  and  seem  to  think  a  great  deal  of  them ; 
they  do  not  work  in  the  fields.  The  women 
go  in  canoes  to  wash  their  clothes  in  the  river, 
and  they  bring  the  drinking  water  in  cala- 
bashes and  gourds.  The  men  make  their  own 
shirts  and  trousers  and  teach  the  boys  to  do 
so ;  the  women  do  not  sew  for  the  men. 

These  people  are  peaceful  and  quiet,  go- 
ing to  bed  early  and  rising  early  and  working 
their  plantations.  Cocoanuts  are  the  chief 
product,  and  the  traders  do  a  big  business 
bringing  rice,  sugar,  soap,  tobacco,  cloth  and 


I70    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

much  rum  to  exchange  for  them.  The  rum 
importation  has  been  stopped  of  late,  how- 
ever, so  that  when  an  Indian  wants  it  he  has 
to  go  to  Colon  in  his  canoe  and  get  a  demijohn. 
The  people's  needs  are  few — cloth  for  the 
shirts  and  trousers  of  the  men,  beads  and  cloth 
for  the  women,  and  a  little  extra  when  the 
baby  girl  comes,  not  for  clothing  but  for  a 
gold  ring  for  her  nose.  The  custom  is  to 
pierce  the  nose  and  ears  of  the  girls  on  the 
third  day.  Since  Andrew  Ferguson  gave  his 
heart  to  Jesus  he  says  he  has  persuaded  his 
father  and  stepmother  not  to  have  the  baby's 
nose  pierced.  The  chief's  wife  has  had  two 
daughters  since  I  came  here,  and  neither  one 
has  had  its  nose  pierced,  so  that  now  several 
of  the  baby  girls  have  escaped  that  horrible 
custom,  which  even  the  men  approve,  saying 
it  "looks  pretty"!  I  told  the  chief  he  ought 
to  bore  these  men's  noses! 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  naming  the  babies. 
I  keep  a  record  of  births,  and  give  the  mother 
a  paper;  she  is  pleased  to  have  the  "letter,"  as 
she  calls  it,  and  when  I  visit  a  home  I  am 
often  asked  how  old  the  baby  is  and  what  its 
name  is.    They  have  a  custom  of  naming  a 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS     171 

baby  according  to  what  they  see  or  what  the 
child  does.  If  he  eats  plenty  of  rice  he  is 
called  Abahdoomah,  Big-rice-eater;  if  he  is 
fair-skinned  he  is  Me-me-see-puha,  White 
Baby;  or  if  he  is  tiny  he  is  called  Pee-pee- 
wah.  Generally  to  boys  they  say  Machee, 
which  is  an  abbreviation  of  Machee-malo,  the 
word  signifying  boy.  To  girls  they  say  Puna, 
which  means  girl;  often  to  babies  just  Mee- 
mee,  which  is  baby,  until  he  or  she  is  named, 
after  our  style  of  nicknames. 

The  San  Bias  Indians  have  a  peculiar  cus- 
tom of  "making  a  friend."  This  is  done  in 
childhood  days  by  both  sexes.  A  boy  will  ask 
another  boy:  "Will  you  be  my  friend?"  If 
the  one  asked  says  that  he  will,  then  the  first 
boy  gives  him  a  piece  of  cloth,  enough  to  make 
a  shirt;  then  he  boils  an  egg  and  cuts  it  in  two 
and  they  sit  down  and  eat  it  together.  Ever 
after  that  they  are  friends.  The  next  day  or 
week  perhaps  the  second  boy  returns  the  com- 
pliment by  giving  to  the  other  a  shirt  and 
boiling  an  egg;  the  girls  do  the  same.  I  was 
puzzled  when  I  first  came  here  and  would 
ask  a  boy  regarding  a  companion  whom  I  had 
seen  him  walking  around  with,  "How  is  your 


172     ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

friend?"  to  have  him  answer,  "He  is  not  my 
friend;  John  or  Ned  is  my  friend,"  and  yet 
he  would  not  be  with  John  or  Ned.  So  they 
explained  their  method  of  making  a  "friend," 
saying  that  the  companion  whom  they  are  with 
is  not  necessarily  their  friend;  they  may  not 
associate  with  their  "friend"  very  much,  but 
still  he  is  their  "friend." 

The  girls  of  San  Bias  are  interesting  as  well 
as  the  boys  and  I  have  had  numbers  of  them 
in  my  school.  Some  of  them  I  call  my  New 
Testament  girls,  and  they  are  earnest  Chris- 
tians. Owing  to  their  early  marriages — for 
there  are  no  old  maids  or  bachelor  girls  among 
the  San  Bias — many  of  my  pupils  are  mothers, 
but  that  does  not  especially  interfere  with 
their  school  life,  for  the  baby  can  be  left  at 
home  with  the  grandmother  while  the  mother 
comes  to  learn  to  read  and  write. 

The  photographs  which  are  reproduced  in 
this  book  show  how  the  girls  and  women  dress. 
The  skirts  are  not  sewed;  they  are  just  a  piece 
of  cloth  put  around  the  body  and  tucked  in 
at  the  waist.  The  yoke  and  sleeves  of  the 
waist  are  of  many  colored  strips,  and  over 
the  yoke  is  the  bodice,  which  is  very  elaborate. 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS     173 

It  is  made  of  several  pieces  of  bright-colored 
calicoes  put  one  on  top  of  the  other,  and  each 
layer  cut  in  figures  or  designs,  letting  the 
next  piece  under  show  through.  Often  there 
are  six  layers  of  cloth  sewed  on  in  this  way. 
They  do  not  use  a  thimble  in  sewing,  and  they 
push  the  needle  from  them.  These  tattooed 
bodices  are  often  quite  artistic  and  are  much 
better  than  the  African  custom  of  tattooing 
the  body. 

But  the  crowning  feature  of  the  costume 
are  the  heavy  strings  of  beads  of  all  colors 
on  the  neck,  arms  and  legs  and  the  nose-rings. 
A  girl  does  not  wear  finger-rings  until  she  is 
married,  and  then  she  has  two  on  every  finger 
and  often  three  and  four.  The  beads  are  not 
strung  for  a  certain  distance,  so  that  only  the 
strings  lie  against  the  neck  in  the  back,  and 
the  beads,  sometimes  a  hundred  strings  in  one 
necklace,  hang  in  heavy  masses  in  front.  In 
the  photographs  many  of  the  beads  appear 
white,  but  they  are  not;  the  women  are  too 
fond  of  bright  blues  and  reds  and  yellows  to 
wear  white.  The  beads  for  the  legs  are 
strung  on  pieces  of  wood  about  the  size  of  the 
ankle  but  bound  on  so  tightly  that  they  stop 


174    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

the  circulation  and  the  flesh  is  in  ridges. 
Sometimes  the  girls  tell  me  that  they  cannot 
sleep  because  of  the  pain  from  that  tight  bind- 
ing; but  Dame  Fashion  is  as  tyrannical  in  San 
Bias  as  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  suf- 
fering is  endured  if  the  wearer  is  conscious 
of  being  in  style.  However  many  of  the  girls 
and  women  are  not  now  binding  their  ankles 
and  arms  and  a  few  have  taken  off  the  nose- 
rings. 

These  Indians  are  sailors  born.  When  the 
traders  come  they  depend  on  the  Indians  to 
pilot  their  vessels.  They  have  eyes  like  a 
hawk,  and  often  start  to  Colon  at  midnight, 
moon  or  no  moon;  a  good  wind  is  all  that 
they  wait  for.  If  they  have  a  good  wind  they 
will  be  in  Colon  the  next  night  by  sunset,  but 
often  a  squall  comes,  upsetting  their  small 
canoes.  They  lose  much,  but  they  say:  "An 
Indian  can't  drown;  we  never  heard  of  an 
Indian  drowning."  Their  cargo  is  usually 
cocoanuts,  sometimes  alligator  pears  and 
mangoes.  They  buy  to  bring  back  cloth, 
sugar,  rice,  and  beads  for  mother,  wife  or 
daughters ;  they  would  not  be  Indians  without 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  SAN  BLAS     175 

beads,  though  the  men  do  not  decorate  at  all; 
that  is  reserved  for  the  women. 

We  had  a  new  thing  last  Christmas.  I  told 
the  boys  to  bring  a  flagpole  and  place  it  in 
front  of  the  schoolhouse.  They  did  this  and 
then  put  one  in  front  of  every  home  in  town. 
Why  not?  Then  every  man,  woman  and 
child  made  a  raid  on  my  Standard  Diction- 
ary to  get  patterns  of  the  flags  of  all  nations, 
and  to  save  my  book  I  had  to  cut  out  the  three 
leaves  of  lithographed  flags,  and  the  making 
of  flags  was  entered  into  with  enthusiasm. 
There  are  now  105  flags  on  three  streamers 
from  the  schoolhouse  pole  and  countless 
others  in  town.  No  photographer  could  re- 
sist taking  a  snapshot  of  us  in  our  beflagged 
condition.  I  have  never  used  a  camera  my- 
self and  have  to  depend  on  tourists  for  the  pic- 
tures that  we  have. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
god's  leadings 

MANY  have  asked  me  how  I  came  to 
work  among  these  Indians,  and  in  an- 
swer to  that  I  can  only  point  to  God's  lead- 
ings. I  have  given  each  link  in  the  chain, 
each  one  seemingly  small  and  unimportant 
yet  absolutely  necessary  to  bring  about  the 
thing  that  God  had  planned.  He  sent  me 
into  a  home  where  I  was  not  wanted,  where 
I  was  not  spoiled  by  doting  parents;  by  a 
facial  disfigurement  he  saved  me  from  van- 
ity; he  chose  me  from  among  the  beautiful 
and  attractive  and  wise  of  my  native  land  and 
of  America,  my  adopted  land,  touched  my 
heart,  and  I  responded,  obeyed  and  went. 
That  is  the  story  in  a  nutshell.  The  results: 
Honor  for  me  and  salvation  from  God  for  the 
Indians.  As  I  look  out  of  my  door  as  I 
write  these  lines  and  see  twenty-five  of  our 
Christian  boys  and  forty  of  our  girls  working 

176 


GOD'S  LEADINGS  177 

in  the  burning  sun,  as  they  have  done  for  two 
days,  to  fill  in  the  large  holes  washed  out  by 
the  sea  at  the  foundation  of  my  house,  and 
know  that  before  they  began  the  work  they 
met  at  the  school  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing to  pray  that  God  would  help  them  to 
make  the  foundation  and  the  wall  good  and 
strong  and  that  none  would  quarrel  and  fight 
— because,  you  see,  they  are  human,  and  some 
of  the  girls  are  not  yet  Christians — I  can  only 
praise  God  for  these  trophies  of  His  grace. 
He  has  the  power  to  save  and  civilize  "treach- 
erous" Indians  a  hundred  miles  from  the  won- 
derful "Big  Ditch"  that  slides  and  stops 
traffic;  and  He  is  building  canals  through 
which  His  grace  is  flowing  unhindered,  to  the 
glory  of  His  great  name  and  the  joy  of  angels. 
If  any  who  read  these  lines  would  really 
like  to  know  God's  will  for  them,  I  can  only 
say,  Ask  God.  He  will  show  you  better  than 
any  human  being  can.  He  will  make  diffi- 
cult things  stepping-stones  and  enable  you  to 
do  His  will  as  he  makes  it  known.  See  God  in 
everything  and  make  everything  work  for  His 
glory.  Do  not  think  that  God  will  send  you 
off  to  China  or  Japan  or  India  at  your  first 


178    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

impulse  to  go.  The  impulse  is  good,  and  may 
be  one  of  the  links  necessary.  But  seek  His 
will,  and  He  will  let  you  know  in  His  own  way 
what  is  best.  Stay  at  home  until  He  says: 
"Go,"  and  use  the  mop  or  the  spade,  the  pen 
or  the  typewriter,  for  His  glory.  When  your 
faith  grows  strong  through  every-day  experir 
ences  He  will  promote  you.  Dish-washing  is 
a  necessary  part  of  a  missionary's  training,  for 
I  have  to  do  it  between  teaching  and  preach- 
ing and  leading  precious  souls  to  Christ.  And 
I  scour  my  pans  and  clean  just  common  barn 
lanterns  to  light  my  school,  and  wash,  iron 
and  press  clothes — all  common  things  that  I 
learned  to  do  long  ago.  I  bake  bread  and 
have  taught  an  Indian  chief  how  to  bake  it 
and  fitted  up  the  stove,  for  a  knowledge  of 
tools  is  pretty  likely  to  be  required  on  a  mis- 
sion field. 

Do  you  sing  over  your  home  work?  Do 
you  pray  over  the  common,  everyday  things 
of  life?  Are  you  obedient  to  those  over  you, 
whoever  they  may  be?  Jesus  learned  obedi- 
ence "by  the  things  which  He  suflFered."  Do 
not  use  human  arguments  or  reasonings  when 
you  come  to  God.    Talk  to  Him,  let  Him  talk 


GOD'S  LEADINGS  179 

to  you,  then  obey,  and  you  will  be  surprised 
at  the  results. 

I  am  surprised  that  God  chose  me  to  come 
to  this  people  so  near  to  the  spot  where  big 
men  were  digging  a  big  canal,  the  wonder  of 
the  world.  Big  minds  turned  that  way,  and 
one  would  have  thought  that  big  Boards  that 
do  big  things  would  have  seen  an  opening  to 
get  the  gospel  to  these  Indians.  But  the  open- 
ing was  so  small  that  they  didn't  see  it,  and 
God  let  me  in  through  the  opening  because  I 
believed.  ^'Blessed  is  she  that  believed;  for 
there  shall  be  a  fulfilment  of  the  things  which 
have  been  spoken  to  her  from  the  Lord." 
Luke  1 :  45. 

If  some  one,  after  reading  this  simple  ac- 
count of  what  God  has  wrought,  would  step 
out  by  faith  on  the  promises  and  do  something, 
go  somewhere,  write,  pray,  sing  for  God,  let 
it  be  over  the  garden  wall,  in  the  kitchen, 
across  the  street,  in  the  field  or  factory,  in 
Sunday-school,  mission  hall  or  slums,  God 
will  be  honored,  the  doer  will  be  blessed,  and 
souls  will  be  saved. 

In  closing  let  me  say  that  I  have  never  been 
lonely,  sad  or  blue.     I  have  so  much  to  do 


i8o    ANNA  COOPE,  SKY  PILOT 

that  time  seems  to  fly.  Some  ask  me  how  I 
have  time  to  write  letters.  I  take  time.  I 
have  no  spare  moments;  I  have  busy  moments, 
each  one  a  gem.  While  the  water  is  boiling 
for  my  cocoa  perhaps  I  have  two  minutes,  and 
I  take  a  piece  of  paper  and  write  to  this  one 
or  that.  I  am  kept  by  the  power  of  God  from 
the  assaults  of  the  enemy  and  often  from  His 
suggestions.  I  have  learned  to  rest  by  change 
of  occupation. 

The  same  God  who  enabled  Daniel  to  pur- 
pose in  his  heart  to  keep  clean  in  morals  and 
in  food  is  here  in  San  Bias  to  keep  me.  The 
same  God  who  preserved  David  Livingstone, 
who  was  over  a  year  without  letters  or  papers, 
can  and  does  keep  me  company.  Oh,  my 
mouth  is  enlarged  like  Paul's  when  I  begin 
to  speak  of  God's  leadings.  His  presence.  His 
love  and  power!  My  soul  is  full  of  joy  be- 
cause Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  is  my  Saviour, 
Sanctifier,  Healer,  and  soon-coming  King. 
The  saved  ones  here  are  looking  for  His  return 
with  joy.  Pray  for  them  and  for  me,  for  I 
am  looking  ahead  for  more  land  to  be  pos- 
sessed by  the  saints  of  San  Bias.  We  are 
marching  on  by  faith. 


